The top 10 highest paid midfielders in the EFL Championship | OneFootball

Football League World looks at who Capology estimate to have been the highest-paid midfielders in the second tier this season

All throughout the season, debates have been had about whether footballers in the Championship have lived up to the wages they are said to be earning.

Now more than ever, in the second tier, players are being handed out contracts worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Former Premier League sides utilise their parachute payment money to retain a lot of their players on top-flight level wages, and those looking to reach the top flight are pushing the boat out somewhat to try and bring in better players on higher wages to make those dreams a reality.

But who are the highest-paid players in the Championship, more specifically, the highest-paid midfielders in the Championship?

Per Capology's estimations, and not including loan players from top-flight clubs, here are the top 10 second-tier midfielders bringing in the most money per week.

10 ? ? Edoardo Bove - Watford (£30,000 p/w)

Kicking off this list is Watford's Edoardo Bove, who made the move to Vicarage Road back in January after his contract was terminated with Serie A side Roma following a cardiac arrest he suffered a couple of years ago while on loan at Fiorentina.

Players in Italy are forbidden from wearing a cardiac defibrillator, so the 23-year-old's future lay elsewhere, and the Hornets were the side to bring him in.

At the time, despite not playing a competitive game for over a year, he was seen as a major coup, given the potential he had shown before his cardiac arrest.

Unfortunately, he has yet to show why Watford gave him an estimated £30,000 per week wage, starting just two league games since the move.

9 ? ? Gustavo Hamer - Sheffield United (£30,000 p/w)

Gustavo Hamer has shown throughout his time at Sheffield United why he earns an estimated £30,000 per week, though, as the Dutchman has easily been one of the best midfielders in the second tier since the Blades returned to the division in 2024.

Hamer won the league's Player of the Season last term, and despite a campaign to forget at Bramall Lane as a whole, the 28-year-old still managed a league-best 12 assists.

With his contract up at the end of next season, there'll be plenty of talk surrounding a potential move away from South Yorkshire. If the Blades can agree on new terms, it'll be interesting to see if his wage goes up or down from what it is said to be now.

8 ? ? Azor Matusiwa — Ipswich Town (£30,000 p/w)

Also said to be earning £30,000 per week is Ipswich Town's Azor Matusiwa, who has really been one of the unsung heroes of the Tractor Boys' immediate promotion back to the Premier League this season.

The 28-year-old made the move from Rennes this past summer, sacrificing top-flight football in France for the opportunity to break into the top-flight in England at Portman Road, and he's appeared in all but one Championship game to help Ipswich achieve that, all of which were starts.

The Dutchman will likely be awarded a wage hike as Ipswich make the step-up into the Premier League once more, but there'll be no doubt that he'd have earned it.

7 ? ? Nampalys Mendy - Watford (£30,000 p/w)

The second Watford player on the list is Nampalys Mendy, and like Bove, the 33-year-old hasn't been able to prove his worth just yet in the limited time he's spent at Vicarage Road.

The former Leicester City man returned to England this summer after spending a couple of years in Ligue 1 with Lens, but he struggled to break into the side in both campaigns, making just 26 league appearances over the two years.

However, the experience that Mendy brought to the table was enough for the Hornets to use up a sizable chunk of their wage bill on a one-year deal for the Senegalese international.

As of writing, Watford haven't released their retained list, but after just 17 second-tier starts in an underwhelming season, it'll be a surprise if they keep him, especially on this current wage.

6 ? ? Imran Louza - Watford (£32,500 p/w)

And rounding out the Watford midfield trio on the list is Imran Louza, who has actually proven his worth throughout the season, ending the year with seven goals, nine assists and plenty of standout performances, too.

The Moroccan has had a tough time at Vicarage Road since his £10 million arrival back in 2021, when the Hornets were a Premier League side, even going as far as being loaned out back to France in 2024 after a poor start to the 2023/24 Championship campaign.

However, this season, he's shown top-flight qualities, with more goals and assists than he's managed in any of his previous seasons, and Watford could incur a struggle to keep him this summer, with Premier League sides sniffing about for his services.

5 ? ? Joe Aribo - Leicester City / Southampton (£35,000 p/w)

A couple of years ago, when Southampton were promoted out of the Championship in the 2023/24 campaign, Joe Aribo would have been right at the top of this list, as he was earning an estimated £70,000 per week at the time.

As it happens, his estimated £35,000 per week wage still lands him in the top five, which is arguably still too high for his decreased output this season.

After his most productive campaign at St Mary's in last year's disastrous Premier League term, playing over 2,000 minutes across 32 games, Aribo was immediately deemed surplus to requirements by new boss Will Still - a decision that Tonda Eckert didn't reverse, despite seven substitute appearances during the first half of the season.

In February, he was loaned out to fellow second-tier side Leicester, but was unable to help them stave off relegation, only making six appearances, and none in the final seven games of the campaign.

It's been a calamity of a season for the 29-year-old, but one where he's still picked up a good weekly paycheck, per Capology's estimations.

4 ? ? Hamza Choudhury - Leicester City (£50,000 p/w)

It's a big jump money-wise into the top four, and understandably, the top end of this list is being dominated by Leicester, who are still feeling the effects of overspending right now, as they gear up for only their second third-tier season in their history.

Hamza Choudhury has carved himself as a solid utility man in the Championship over the past few seasons, whether that be on loan at Watford or Sheffield United, or at the King Power Stadium, where 64 of his 163 senior appearances have come in the second tier.

However, the Leicester academy man hasn't been worth the estimated £50,000 per week contract he's currently on, and it represents the high wages that the club were handing out while they were confident of their Premier League status just three seasons ago.

3 ? ? Finn Azaz — Southampton (£50,000 p/w)

Taking a short break from Leicester, but remaining within teams with Premier League parachute payments, the third-highest-paid midfielder in the Championship is Southampton's Finn Azaz.

The Irishman has been one of the stars of the Saints' surge up the second-tier table in the latter half of the season, finishing the regular campaign with 10 goals. Plus, he scored that brilliant opener at Wembley against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final.

It's been a good debut year for Azaz at St Mary's, and he represents a rare transfer win under the Sport Republic ownership, who spent an initial £12 million to bring him in this past summer.

He's estimated to be Southampton's highest earner and a top-six earner in the league, and he's easily proven that at times this season.

2 ? ? Oliver Skipp - Leicester City (£50,000 p/w)

There arguably hasn't been a more confusing transfer in recent memory than Leicester's £20 million buy of Oliver Skipp ahead of their Premier League return in 2024.

That's not due to the quality of the 25-year-old, but because of the high price tag, especially when taking into account that the Foxes would make a staggering pre-tax loss of £71.1 million in the 2024/25 campaign.

Skipp would only make 10 league starts last season as they were relegated back to the second tier, so he definitely wasn't worth that level of investment, and while that game time increased exponentially this year, it hasn't helped them avoid consecutive relegations.

The 25-year-old is under contract until 2029. Even with a possible wage cut after relegation, it'll be difficult for Leicester to warrant paying him that much as they prepare for a third-tier return.

1 ? ? Harry Winks - Leicester City (£90,000 p/w)

It's been well documented throughout the final few months of the campaign that Harry Winks is the reported highest earner in the side with one of the largest wage bills, if not the largest, ever to be relegated to League One.

The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is said to be earning an eye-watering £90,000 per week at Leicester, and that contract has another year left on it.

Additionally, it's hard to argue that the 30-year-old has even been worth the hefty sum he's been on this past season. Unlike two years ago, Winks hasn't been able to run the midfield with ease in the Championship, and he's struggled to help the Foxes in this relegation battle.

His frustrations boiled over towards the end of the campaign, and with Leicester fans not taking kindly to it, it's surely only a matter of time before he finds a new club.