Tottenham are in the relegation zone with four games to go as they face a last-ditch effort to preserve their Premier League status, which has been intact since the competition’s inception.
Too big to go down? Their wage bill alone should be.
They finished just above the bottom three last season, but this has been something else. They were already mathematically safe this time last year, but their fate now is far from in their own hands.
The prospect of one of the so-called ‘big six’ dropping into the Championship presents plenty of questions. Which players would stay and which would go?
Until any of that is decided, Spurs would be taking a huge wage bill with them down into the second tier compared to their would-be opponents.
Indeed, Spurs are estimated to have the seventh-highest payroll in the Premier League at present. Would those kind of wages be sustainable in the Championship? Probably not.
For perspective, we’ve taken a look at the current best-paid players in the Championship. Ironically, several of them play for Leicester City, who are going down to League One.
Championship’s highest-paid players
Former Spurs midfielder Winks is the best-paid player in the Championship, according to Capology.
His Leicester teammates Pereira, Daka, Vestergaard, Skipp (also ex-Spurs), Choudhury and Lascelles are also in the top 10.
With those players removed – and Matt Targett, since it remains to be seen what happens after his loan spell at Middlesbrough from Newcastle – the list of the Championship’s top earners before Spurs potentially come into play would look very different, as such:
An asterisk denotes a player still in with a chance of winning promotion to the Premier League with their current team, with automatic promotion hopefuls Southampton and Ipswich Town represented, along with play-off outsiders Hull City.
Tottenham’s highest-paid players
=10. Pedro Porro – £85,000
=10. Radu Dragusin – £85,000
Simons is Spurs’ joint highest-paid player and he will continue to be next season, since the ACL injury he has suffered has ruled out the prospect of him moving in the summer.
Captain Romero also earns just shy of £195,000 per week and is one of the harder players to imagine sticking around in the Championship as he continues to court interest from the likes of Atletico Madrid.
Spurs’ third-highest earner Maddison has Championship pedigree after starring with Norwich in the 2017-18 season, but he left Leicester after their relegation in 2023 and hasn’t featured at all this season due to injury.
On-loan duo Joao Palhinha and Randal Kolo Muani are omitted here, since it’s implausible that Spurs would look to keep them in the Championship considering their salaries of £150,000-a-week and £135,000-a-week respectively.
All in all, Spurs have seven other remaining players earning more than the £90,000-a-week figure that currently represents the Championship’s biggest salary.
Take Leicester’s players out of the equation and, compared to the £50,000-a-week maximum that would be left over, Spurs only have Djed Spence, Wilson Odobert, Antonin Kinsky, Souza and Brandon Austin on less.
However, reports have suggested there are relegation clauses in their players’ contracts which could lead to these salaries being cut in half.
With that in mind, the Championship’s top earners including the Spurs’ squad’s halved salaries (and applying the same to Wolves’, since they’re reported to have similar relegation clauses too) would look something like this…
Provisional Championship top earners before transfers
Spurs’ dominance of the list shows how unlikely it would be to keep the band together in the Championship. They might not want to anyway, favouring a complete rebuild.
Even after any squad adjustments, though, you’d expect Spurs to be one of the top-paying sides in the second tier if that’s where they do end up.