How much money Damion Downs earns a week at Southampton FC as brutal fan view is given | OneFootball

Football League World looks at Damion Downs' estimated weekly Southampton wage amid intensifying criticism from supporters

Southampton are yet to get going in the 2025/26 EFL Championship campaign after suffering relegation from the Premier League alongside Ipswich Town and Leicester City, with Will Still's side having taken just two victories from their opening nine encounters.

The first of those, of course, was a dramatic 2-1 win at home to newly-promoted Wrexham on the opening weekend, in which the Saints' blushes were only spared through injury-time goals from Ryan Manning and Jack Stephens. Southampton did win on the road away at Sheffield United last week, courtesy of a Ross Stewart brace, although the fact that the Blades have now lost eight of their first nine league outings meant that anything less would have represented a minor disaster.

Instead, draws have been the recurring theme of Still's start to life on the south coast.

The promotion hopefuls, who are instead situated down in 17th position, have played out five draws already, with an inability to break down opposition present once again in Saturday's 1-1 affair away to an out-of-form Derby County side.

The frustrations of the early struggles to match expectations are, however, perhaps best characterised by Damion Downs. Acquired from FC Koln in a reported £7 million after helping the German outfit return to the Bundesliga with 10 goals from just 29 appearances, the six-cap United States international has not got off the mark for Southampton following his first eight matches.

Five of those have been in league action, though Downs has no more than a solitary assist to show for it and has come under fire in recent weeks. The striker's languid display as a second-half substitute away to Derby on the weekend has intensified critcism, and he faces a battle to win over supporters and, of course, regain his goalscoring touch.

With that in mind, Football League World has taken a look at what Downs is currently earning at Southampton — and what has been said about the deal which is yet to get going.

How much Damion Downs earns per week at Southampton FC

Downs put pen to paper on a four-year contract at St Mary's Stadium, which represents an undoubted display of long-term faith from the Southampton hierarchy.

That faith, of course, is yet to bear fruit, but Downs is by no means a top earner in Hamsphire.

Indeed, as per Capology — a site which provides estimated information on player and club salaries — Downs is collecting a weekly wage of just £12,500, and that places him in the lower-bracket of earners at Southampton.

The 21-year-old's estimated salary may be something of a surprise considering the sizable fee in which he was brought in alongside Southampton's status as a newly-relegated side from the Premier League in receipt of the division's lucrative three-year parachute payments package, with only a small handful of players estimated to be earning less at the club right now.

Those players are, according to Capology, fellow summer recruit Joshua Quarshie, Shea Charles, George Long, teenage prospect Jay Robinson and, rather surprisingly, Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Brutal Southampton FC verdict offered on Damion Downs

Despite the estimation that Downs is on an affordable pay packet for Southampton, they have nonetheless received criticism over his signing, with the fee shelled out for his services much costlier.

FLW duly asked our resident Southampton fan pundit, Martin Sanders, whether he believes there may be a tinge of initial regret at the club pertaining to Downs' signing. In Martin's view, head coach Still has been "let down" by the Saints' hierarchy — namely technical director Johannes Spors, with Downs labeled as one of the "poorest" strikers to represent Southampton in some time.

"He's probably one of the poorest strikers I've seen at Saints in a very long time," Martin told FLW. "His performance at Derby was poor, but his general play since he arrived hasn't been very good.

"He struggles to hold the ball up, struggles to be a presence. Johannes Spors said in the summer that finding a first-class centre-forward was a 'priority'.

"It was a 'priority'. So why have we gone and bought a 21-year-old? In terms of football, he's young. He's a 21-year-old out of Bundesliga.2, who had only played a small part last season, to come and be a main striker for us.

"Ross Stewart was never going to be fit enough for a long period of time.

" Cameron Archer's just not looked interested. So, it left us really lightweight, Adam Armsrtong can't play as a 'nine'.

"Will Still wants to play a 'target man'. I sat in a press conference the other week, and he said, 'I don't want a striker. I've got Damion, Cameron, Adam Armstrong and Ross Stewart'.

"I think, if you asked him that same question now, his answer would be very different. I think he's been let down massively by Johannes Spors.

"He's not good enough and he doesn't look like he's going to be good enough. A lot of Southampton fans at the weekend were saying that he's one of the worst strikers we've had in a long time.

"I'm a pretty forgiving guy. But, when I don't see someone put a shift in, I start to question it.

"He doesn't press and he doesn't put a shift in. He needs to start trying if he wants to make it work, in my opinion."