West Brom & Leicester City wage bill compared: Who is paying more to avoid League One? | OneFootball

West Brom and Leicester City are struggling in the battle to avoid relegation into League One, but which of them has the higher wage bill?

To say it's been a season to forget for both West Brom and Leicester City is an understatement, as they battle to retain their Championship status.

Relegation into the third tier of English football will have been almost unthinkable at the start of the 2025/26 season, but now they'll be fearing the worst.

Leicester were hit with a points deduction, which hampered any sort of progress they made.

The Foxes' days of playing in the Premier League will be nothing but a distant memory nowadays, and there's a serious chance they could be one of the clubs joining Sheffield Wednesday in League One next season.

West Brom's demise this season has been equally as surprising, with the Baggies' dismal showings, particularly in the second-half of this year's campaign.

They're both battling with the likes of Oxford United and Portsmouth to avoid the drop, but there's no doubting that relegation for West Brom and Leicester City would be disastrous not only for both clubs' development up the English football pyramid, but also financially, it could be problematic.

Here at Football League World, via statistics provided by Capology, we'll look into wage bills of both West Brom and Leicester City, and see which club is ultimately paying more each week in their efforts to avoid relegation into the third tier.

West Brom's wage bill

West Brom's weekly wage bill is £374,000 according to Capology, which is still on the larger side of the rest of the Championship wage bills for the 2025/26 season.

The Baggies' highest earner according to the report is defender, Nathaniel Phillips, who is on wages of £40,000 per-week, whilst Chris Mepham (£35,000), and Charlie Taylor (£30,000) make up the top-three, although it remains to be seen as to how much of Taylor's wages West Brom are covering, as the defender is on loan from fellow Championship side, Southampton.

Daryl Dike, Jed Wallace, and Alex Mowatt are on wages upwards of £25,000, and it would be interesting to see how many of those players stuck around if the Baggies were relegated into League One this season.

Those types of wages simply aren't sustainable in the third tier of English football, and a major clearout would be needed at The Hawthorns. Relegation is never good for any club, but it could be somewhat of a good thing in the long-term, especially if they wanted to have a reset in terms of clearing out the so-called 'deadwood'.

Cardiff City have the highest wage bill in League One for the 2025/26 season, as the Bluebirds are paying out £275,500 each week on first-team squad payroll. Only three League One clubs (Cardiff City, Luton Town & Huddersfield Town) this term have weekly wages exceeding £200,000, so West Brom would have to make significant cuts over the summer to financially prepare for life in League One.

Leicester City's eye-opening wage bill

If you thought that West Brom's wage bill was on the slightly larger side, you'll be stunned to hear of Leicester City's reported wage bill.

According to Capology, the Foxes have a wage bill of £822,500 per week in the Championship, which makes their struggles in the second tier even more surprising.

The Foxes have seven first-team players that are on £50,000 per week or over, with Harry Winks being top of the pile with reported wages of £90,000 per week.

Ricardo Pereira, Patson Daka, Jannik Vestergaard, Hamza Choudhury, Oliver Skipp, and Jamaal Lascelles are the other names on the higher side of the scale for their weekly wages.

The majority of the higher earners in the squad were part of the Leicester City team that were relegated from the Premier League, and you would imagine that they would be some of the first players heading for the exit door at the end of the 2025/26 season, especially if the Foxes are to drop back into the third tier for the first time since the 2008/09 campaign.

There's no doubting that Leicester City would need a significant reset financially if they were to be relegated from the Championship this season, as the wages that their current squad are on nowhere near the sort of size that is financially sensible in League One.