How much money the 20 clubs in the 2023-2024 Premier League spend on salaries for their players? This with a ranking from lowest to highest by club.
20. Luton Town
TOP 8 WEEKLY SALARIES AT LUTON TOWN
COUNTRY | PLAYER | WEEKLY SALARY |
BELGIUM | A. SAMBI LOKONGA (loan) | £50,000 |
ENGLAND | RYAN GILES | £30,000 |
NETHERLANDS | THAITH CHONG | £30,000 |
ENGLAND | ROSS BARKLEY | £30,000 |
SCOTLAND | JACOB BROWN | £30,000 |
ZIMBABWE | MARVELOUS NAKAMBA | £30,000 |
NETHERLANDS | TIM KRUL | £25,000 |
BELGIUM | THOMAS KAMINSKI | £25,000 |
Total club salaries (annual): £24.5m
total club salaries (weekly): £427.5k
Despite working on a low budget in comparison to their Championship rivals, Luton Town won promotion in 2022/2023 and now have the lowest wage bill in the Premier League. With an average salary of £18K per week per player, the entire Luton Town squad collectively receives £24.5M per year, which is slightly more than Kevin De Bruyne earns with Manchester City on his own. The Belgian currently earns a cool £20.8M a year which gives you an idea of the kind of resources The Hatters have.
There is a theory that Luton wanted to spend a small portion of the £180M the club earned for promotion into the Premier League in order to secure the club's future in the event of a future financial crises or relegation back to the Championship which makes good financial sense for a club reliant on generating revenue away from matchdays at the Kenilworth Road.
19. Sheffield United.
After spending two years in the Championship, Sheffield United gained promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2022/23 season.
Despite the riches of England's top flight, The Blades owners stick to a strict salary cap which has had it's critics with a £maximum salary limit of £35k a week.
Sheffield United CEO Stephen Bettis:
"On the last day of the transfer market they offered us two players from a Premier League club and then they told me their salaries and we don't have a single player of what those two earn."
It's been reported that this would help explain the controversy during the summer transfer window where Sheffield United sold their arguably their most influential player, midfielder Sander Berge, for £15M to Burnley. The player was promised a salary of £50K if promoted to the Premier League but this was not fulfilled; so they parted ways with the Norwegian and completed the transfer of Gustavo Hamer from Coventry City, for the same £15M.
18. Burnley.
While Burnley spent much more than the other 2 newly promoted teams, they still have the 3rd lowest wage bill in the Premier League. The 3 teams that were relegated to the Championship last season (Leicester City, Southampton and Leeds United), also have a higher wage bill than Vincent Kompany's team.
17. Brentford.
Thomas Frank has done a sensational job at Brentford, who continue to punch above their financial weight in the Premier League.
The average salary for a Brentford player is £1,426,286 a year and central defender Ben Mee is the highest earner at £55K a week.
16. Wolverhampton.
The club was forced to sell many players in order to comply with various Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules in the summer of 2023 and managed to cut the wage bill.
Raúl Jiménez and Joao Moutinho were Molineux's highest-paid players last season and both were allowed to leave the club. Goncaldo Guedes, who is on a £90K-a-week contract, was also loaned to Benfica. This is how the current workforce looked in terms of salary:
15. Bournemouth.
Under the club's new ownership, by American billionaire Bill Foley, it is one of the clubs that would be in favor of the Premier League adopting a salary cap.
The highest paid player at the Vitality Stadium is summer signing Justin Kluviert and he reportedly earns £80K a week. Here is Bournemouth's ranking:
14.Brighton.
Brighton's recent success on the pitch is made even more impressive by the fact that they sit 14th in the Premier League wage bill table.
The Seagulls are widely regarded as one of the best-run clubs in Europe and often sign talented young players who do not command large salaries and sell them at quite high prices. Ex: Moises Caicedo or Alexis Mac Allister.
13. Fulham.
Since Shahid Khan bought Fulham in 2013, the owner has tried to ensure the club operates within its means.
The average salary of a Fulham player is £2,485,000 a year and their main highest earning player is Raúl Jiménez.
Raul Jimenez signed a £100K-a-week contract following his departure from Wolves in the summer, making it one of the highest salaries in the club's history after Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£120K) in 2020/21.
12.Crystal Palace.
The club were willing to break their wage structure for Wilfried Zaha, but the player rejected a contract offer worth £200K a week and joined Galatasaray on a free transfer in the summer.
With the departure of Wilfried Zaha, the top spot at Selhurst Park is now shared by Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Dean Henderson, who earn £100K a week each.
11. Nottingham Forest.
Forest's annual wage bill was just £22.45M in 2021/22, but their promotion to the Premier League and a revamp of the playing squad has seen that figure more than triple in the last 2 years. Madness or investment?
10. Everton.
Everton have signed some lucrative contracts in recent years and are spending £78.9M on player wages this season.
9. Newcastle.
9. Newcastle.
Even though Newcastle are now funded by Saudi owners, the club still has to shell out ridiculous sums and their annual wage bill sits at a relatively conservative £84.5M a year.
Bruno Guimaraes recently signed a new five-year deal worth £160K, making him St. James’ Park’s highest-paid player.
8. West Ham
West Ham's wage bill has increased considerably in recent years and they are currently the 8th biggest spender in the Premier League in terms of player wages.
The Hammers, who won the Europa Conference League in 2022/23, were also willing to give Declan Rice a big pay rise but he turned down a £200,000-a-week offer to join Arsenal.
7. Tottenham.
Tottenham's wage bill is the lowest of the Premier League 'Big Six' clubs and also below Aston Villa in the 2023/24 season.
After Harry Kane joined Bayern Munich in the summer, Spurs captain Son Heung-min is now the club's highest earner, earning £190K per week.
6. Aston Villa.
Aston Villa's billionaire owners have invested significant sums in the team and this is reflected in the wage bill, as they are investing £117M each year into their team's respective bank accounts.
Unai Emery's side have made a bright start to the 2023/24 season and their annual wage bill could rise further if they qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
5.Liverpool.
Liverpool currently lead the Premier League in 2023/24, but with an annual outlay of £136.2M, they are 5th in terms of salaries.
The Reds are spending almost 15% of their wage bill on Mohamed Salah, who earns £18.2M a year and is the highest-paid player in Liverpool's history.
4.Chelsea.
Chelsea had the highest wage bill in the Premier League in 2022/23, but said goodbye to several high-earning stars in the summer, including Kalidou Koulibaly, N'Golo Kante and Kai Havertz.
Several Chelsea players also took a pay cut due to failing to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and have now fallen to 4th place in this ranking.
3. Arsenal.
Arsenal finished 2nd in the Premier League in 2022/23 and subsequently saw their wage bill soar as players were rewarded for their brilliant performances.
Players such as Aaron Ramsdale, William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli signed new long-term deals in 2023.
The Gunners also signed Kai Havertz and Declan Rice in the summer transfer window, handing lucrative contracts to the midfield duo.
2. Manchester City
Manchester City have 4 players earning more than £15M a year: Kevin De Bruyne (£20.8M), Erling Haaland (£19.5M), Bernardo Silva (£15.6M). and Jack Grealish (£15.6M).
The players justified their salaries in the 2022/23 season by helping City win the Premier League, the Champions League and the FA Cup. As well as player salaries, Manchester City also have the highest-paid manager in the Premier League, with Pep Guardiola earning £19,721,724 per year.
1. Manchester United.
Despite terminating Cristiano Ronaldo's £515K-a-week contract and allowing David de Gea's £375K-a-week contract to expire, United still have the highest wage bill in the Premier League.
Marcus Rashford recently signed a new five-year contract at Old Trafford, taking his salary from £200K to £300K per week.
They are reportedly looking to offload some of their biggest costs such as Casemiro (£18.2M annually), Raphael Varane (£17.6M), Jadon Sancho (£13M) and Anthony Martial (£13M).
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