The narrative surrounding Leicester City's financial (mis)management has long been one of perceived excess: a club seemingly wearing a Premier League tuxedo in a Championship ballroom. While it is true that King Power Stadium houses a wage bill that would make many top-flight European sides wince, the common assumption that a Fox sits atop the individual earning charts is actually a wide-spread misconception.
While the LCFC squad is essentially a high-end fleet of luxury cars that have somehow ended up stuck in a muddy field with lesser quality facilities and groundsmen, they are expensive to maintain. These so-called sportscars are currently going nowhere fast either! But the figurative gold-plated Rolls-Royce of the division is, in fact, parked elsewhere.
Most of the English Football League Championship's richest salaries hail from Leicester City - though not the top two
Despite the eye-watering sums handed to the likes of Harry Winks and Ricardo Pereira, the crown for the highest earner belongs to Kalvin Phillips. The England international's astronomical £150,000-a-week deal (a remnant of his parent club Manchester City’s elite-level standing, with charges still to face) dwarfs even the most ambitious contracts in the East Midlands.
"The Blades will be paying him £45,000-per-week, while City are still covering the remaining £105,000-per-week."Planet Football
The Foxes' problem is not a single mountain peak of expenditure, but rather a vast, expensive plateau. They dominate the top ten with a staggering volume of players (somehow) earning between £50,000 and £90,000 a week, a strategy that has proven desperately ineffectual for a side struggling to justify such outlays through results.
City might have the most crowded VIP lounge in the division. Yet they don't own the most expensive ticket in the house.
The Championship's top 11 earners (2025/26)
Kalvin Phillips (Ipswich Town - £150,000)
Matt Targett (Middlesbrough - £100,000)
Harry Winks (Leicester City - £90,000)
Ricardo Pereira (Leicester City - £80,000)
Patson Daka (Leicester City - £75,000)
Joe Aribo (Southampton - £70,000)
Jannik Vestergaard (Leicester City - £60,000)
Carlos Vicente (Birmingham City - £50,000)
Oliver Skipp (Leicester City - £50,000)
Hamza Choudhury (Leicester City - £50,000)
Finn Azaz (Southampton - £50,000)