Birmingham City

FLW examines Birmingham City’s greatest earner over the last eight seasons.

Published

3 months ago

March 23, 2024

For eight years, Birmingham City has faced many difficulties as a football team.

The Blues have only finished as high as 17th in the Championship in the previous eight years, although they have often narrowly avoided relegation. For the past ten or so years, Birmingham has had severe on-field difficulties, and this season has sadly been no exception.

The Blues are tied for 21st place in the standings as of March 18 and have the same number of points as the drop zone. Despite barely escaping relegation for the previous eight years, they might be easily passed by Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday, thus this may be the closest they ever come to it.

Championship Table (As it stands March 18th)
	Team	P	GD	Pts
17	Blackburn Rovers	38	-13	42
18	Plymouth Argyle	38	-8	41
19	Stoke City	38	-18	41
20	QPR	38	-14	40
21	Birmingham City	38	-17	39
22	Huddersfield Town	38	-19	39
23	Sheffield Wednesday	38	-31	38
24	Rotherham United	38	-47	20

Under the direction of Caretaker Manager Mark Venus, the Blues need to make immediate changes as they are currently on a six-game league losing streak.

Birmingham will have to make difficult decisions off the field about player salaries if they are relegated, as they might need to let go of some players.

15 players in the first team are now making £10k or more, according to Capology estimates, so things could have to alter come football season.

Football League World examines Birmingham City’s biggest earner throughout the previous eight seasons today; some players have a greater influence on the field than others.

Capology provides estimates for all salaries.

2023/24: Krystian Bielik

Krystian Bielik, a defensive midfielder, is the highest paid player this season. The 26-year-old, who earned the highest salary in the team—an estimated £20,000 per week—joined on loan for the 2022–2023 season before finalizing a permanent contract last summer.

Although he is a valuable asset to the Blues, he has started 27 Championship games so far this season. Perhaps other players on the team are significantly more vital than him and should be paid more.

2022/23: Tahith Chong

Chong, who is currently a Premier League player for Luton Town, was, quite rightly, Birmingham’s highest earning during the previous campaign. The former Manchester United player, who was a vital member of the team last season, was thought to be paid an estimated £30,000 per week.

After making 38 appearances during the season, Chong scored five goals and provided four assists, earning him a transfer to the Premier League.

2021/22: Onel Hernandez

Hernandez was the highest paid player at Birmingham, making an estimated £21,923 per week when he signed on loan from Norwich City during the second part of 2021–2022.

The Cuban international became a regular starter and a somewhat important one for Birmingham despite just spending a brief period of time there, scoring three goals and providing three assists.

2020/21: Mikel San Jose

With an average weekly salary of £26,538 after spending ten years with Athletic Bilbao and finishing second in the Europa League, it is not surprising that San Jose became Birmingham’s highest earner when he joined the team in 2020.

He was in his thirties and starting to slow down when he came to St Andrews, with just nineteen league starts in midfield or defence under his belt.

2019/20: Scott Hogan

During the second half of the 2019–20 season, the Irishman—who was on loan from bitter rivals Aston Villa—joined Birmingham. Later that summer, he decided to make the arrangement permanent, and he has been at St Andrews ever since.

With an anticipated weekly salary of 28,077, he was the club’s biggest earner during his rookie season. This undoubtedly demonstrated his value to the team, as he made an immediate impression upon joining in January. He and Lukas Jutkiewicz forged a strong partnership that saw him score seven goals in eight games.

2018/19: Jota Peleteiro

The Spaniard, who signed in 2017 for a club record amount, was the highest paid player on the team during his second season, bringing in an estimated £25k per week.

From Jota’s own standpoint, the 2018–19 season was passably successful as he recorded nine assists and three goals from the right wing.

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