Many fantastic players have come and gone at Leeds United over the years, and that hasn't changed despite now being a Championship club for another year, which, naturally, will make them high earners at Elland Road.
Promotion to the Premier League is the priority for Leeds every season as a second-tier club but especially after finishing third in the Championship with an impressive 90 points last term. Losing in the play-off final certainly came as a bitter blow to Leeds fans and players alike, as the Whites were unable to gain promotion at the first time of asking.
Daniel Farke has had to undergo plenty of changes in the last two summer windows. Naturally, relegation and then failure to gain promotion saw top earners depart, with the likes of Rodrigo, Tyler Adams, Robin Koch, Marc Roca, and Georginio Rutter among the top players to have exited the club over the last two summer windows.
The Whites required changes, in part due to needing to raise funds and cut their cloth accordingly, but also due to the need to trim the wage bill after falling into and remaining in the second tier. However, Leeds have also recruited well in the past two windows to bring in quality.
The 49ers have had to operate in difficult circumstances after inheriting situations which hamstrung them last summer, with loan clauses proving to be a frustration. This summer, it was release clauses that allowed the likes of Crysencio Summerville and Rutter to depart.
Leeds' squad building in 2024/25
Ao Tanaka and Jayden Bogle of Leeds United
Leeds have used the money raised from those big-money sales to add both quality players and experienced EFL operators, but also have a fairly streamlined squad of 24 first-team players, having had a clear out. Joe Rodon, Jayden Bogle, Manor Solomon, Largie Ramazani, and Ao Tanaka are perhaps the most eye-catching players to come in and bolster their ranks.
That will hopefully give Farke the required reinforcements to be competitive at the right end of the division. The objective now, as always from the ambitious 49ers this season, is to gain promotion to the Premier League and there will be real disappointment if the club fail to do so this time around.
He saw the likes of Rutter, Archie Gray, Glen Kamara, and Summerville leave West Yorkshire, with each of them playing a huge amount of minutes and proving their worth during the 2023/24 campaign. Replacing their quality and availability was likely to prove difficult, but Leeds are in good hands again this season.
|Leeds United - 2024/25 Signings|
|Player Name|Signed From|Loan/Permanent|
|---|
|Isaac Schmidt|FC St. Gallen|Permanent|
|Ao Tanaka|Fortuna Düsseldorf|Permanent|
|Manor Solomon|Tottenham Hotspur|Loan|
|Largie Ramazani|UD Almeria|Permanent|
|Jayden Bogle|Sheffield United|Permanent|
|Joe Rothwell|AFC Bournemouth|Loan (option to buy)|
|Alex Cairns|Salford City|Permanent|
|Joe Rodon|Tottenham Hotspur|Permanent|
|Josuha Guilavogui|Unattached|Permanent|
Optimism remains high despite the exits, but there will be disappointment to miss out for a second consecutive year. On paper at least, it appears as though they have a group of players that will be one of the favourites to go up automatically, with results so far seeing them fighting it out in the top three for much of the campaign already.
Farke is a two-time winner of the second tier and has a group of players where many of the recent signings are likely to be among the club's best players and top earners in the Championship; but here, we take a look at some of the highest paid players Leeds and the 49ers are currently paying, and the total wage bill of the squad after another turnover of players.
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Leeds' wage bill 2024/25
Patrick Bamford of Leeds United
Leeds brought in Josuha Guilavogui on a free transfer after the deadline; meanwhile, Brenden Aaronson and Max Wöber also returned to the mix as players from loan. It means that there are 11 new faces that were not a part of the squad last season. Many of the players were bought for significant fees, namely Rodon, Ramazani, Bogle, and Tanaka.
Even if trimming the wage bill through sales and loans of the likes of Diego Llorente, Rasmus Kristensen, Marc Roca, and the like has helped cut costs, Leeds' wage bill is costing them around £708,000 per week, as per Capology's estimates. That is an average weekly wage of 30,783 and an average annual payroll of £36,816,000.
A weekly wage bill of £708,000 puts the Whites as the highest spenders in the Championship and is significantly above every other team in the league. Per Capology, Patrick Bamford is Leeds' highest-paid player, just ahead of the likes of Junior Firpo, Pascal Struijk, and Dan James.
His estimated weekly wage is £70,000, with other top earners around the £50k-60k mark. The ambition of the club's ownership is reflected by having one of the largest wage bills in the division. Manor Solomon is also in that ballpark, but is not likely to be paid 100% of that figure by Leeds, with Spurs covering some of the cost.
The likes of Aaronson, Rodon, Ethan Ampadu, Willy Gnonto, and Illan Meslier are just below that clutch of players. It underlines the quality in Leeds' squad but also the pressing need to be promoted this season, with the clubs' finances more likely to be an issue in 2025/26 without Premier League football.
Although, it is unclear how accurate all of these estimates are following relegation, with Phil Hay of The Athletic reporting in the aftermath that "Leeds are protected by significant clauses inserted into every player’s contract, which will see wages fall by a minimum of 50 percent and maximum of 60 percent" in the event of dropping down a division.