Football League World rank the 10 Birmingham City players estimated to be the best paid at the club.
Birmingham City are already in the midst of a busy summer transfer window, with both incomings and outgoings plentiful for John Eustace’s side.
The Blues squad will look very different this season, as Birmingham gave an update on the squad situation via their official site confirming the departure of captain Troy Deeney among others, their statement said: “Six members of John Eustace’s First Team squad have been released. These are Maxime Colin, Harlee Dean, whose most recent appearance was his 200th for Birmingham City, Troy Deeney, George Friend, Jordan Graham and Kevin Long. It must be noted that talks remain ongoing with a number of released players.”
With that now confirmed and the takeover of Tom Wagner completed for this season, Blues will be hoping that the 2023/24 season is the beginning of a new era under Eustace. They have been busy in the market in attempting to improve upon their highest placed finish of 17th over the course of the last six years.
They have lost one more player since then, in the form of Tahith Chong to Luton Town. However, they have not been afraid to splash the cash received from his sale, signing the likes of Ethan Laird, Krystian Bielik, Tyler Roberts, Koji Miyoshi, Siriki Dembele, Dion Sanderson, Keshi Anderson, and Lee Buchanan. They have also given Long a new deal since that announcement, too.
Birmingham will be aiming much higher than previous outings in the Championship, having languished above the relegation zone for a while now. The young, progressive signings so far have given renewed optimism to the fanbase ahead of the season beginning this weekend with a trip to Swansea City.
With the new wave of incomings at St. Andrew’s, we take a look at who the 10 highest-paid Birmingham players are according to estimates by Capology. Let’s take a look, here…
10Gary Gardner – £10,000
Gardner is the tenth-highest earner at the club and has played for Blues since 2019, making 164 appearances during his time with the club.
He joined from cross-city rivals Aston Villa, and has notched 14 goals and a further six assists so far.
The 31-year-old has become more of a periphery figure of late and appeared in only 10 games for Eustace’s side last season.
9Sam Cosgrove – £10,769
Cosgrove’s 2021 move from Aberdeen has simply not worked out how he or Birmingham had hoped it would.
The 26-year-old has so far played 15 games for Birmingham failing to register a single goal or assist in that time, and instead has spent the last few seasons out on loan.
He is entering the final year of his deal with the club, but is reportedly the ninth-highest earner for the club currently.
8Scott Hogan – £11,538
Another player entering the final year of his deal with the club, who also joined from cross-city rivals Aston Villa, is striker Scott Hogan.
The 31-year-old Irish international has 34 goals for Blues in 129 games and reportedly earns £11,538 per week.
He is entering his fourth year as a Blues player and is likely to be an important player next season, given their lack of options in the striking department.
7Marc Roberts – £13,462
A long-serving Blues player, Roberts is the club’s seventh-highest paid player, according to Capology’s estimates.
He has played for the club for six years now, having arrived from Barnsley in 2017, and gone on to make 181 appearances in that time.
The 33-year-old’s leadership and experience is vital to the side, as has also previously captained the side on occasion, too.
6Kevin Long – £15,000
A more recent addition, Long joined the club permanently in January from Burnley, signing an initial six-month deal.
He then went on to play 20 times for Eustace last season, earning himself a one-year extension for the 2023/24 season.
Long earns £15,000 per week for Birmingham, making him the sixth-highest paid player for the club currently.
5Lukas Jutkiewicz – £15,000
On a par with Long, is Birmingham’s veteran striker. No other player in the Blues squad has made more appearances for the side than Jutkiewicz.
His next appearance will be his 300th for the club, having contributed to 98 goals in that time as well.
The Southampton-born striker has given seven years of service so far and counting, and the 34-year-old could well end his career with the club, too.
4Neil Etheridge – £17,500
The Blues shot-stopper has become a more periphery figure at St. Andrew’s last season, playing only four games in all competitions.
That is due to the strong form of John Ruddy, who has usurped Etheridge and taken the number-one spot between the sticks.
The Filipino goalkeeper was the first-choice for Birmingham in 2020/21, playing 43 games that season, having joined from Cardiff City in the summer, whilst being handed a contract worth £17,500 per week in the process.
3Ivan Sunjic – £17,500
The other player in joint-third on the list, is Sunjic, who earns the same as Etheridge.
The defensive-midfielder spent last season on loan with Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga, but has been involved in pre-season action for Blues so far.
It’s fair to say his signing hasn’t been an overall success, having joined in 2019 from Dinamo Zagreb for a fee of around £6.3 million. The Croatian international has 133 appearances for the club so far.
2Juninho Bacuna – £17,885
A January 2022 arrival from Rangers comes out in second spot in the top ten, with Bacuna reportedly earning just shy of £18,000.
The 25-year-old has two years remaining on his current deal with the club, and has played 63 games for the club so far.
The utility player has been moved all around the pitch by Eustace but was a key player last season, scoring only twice but from a variety of positions in midfield and defence.
1Krystian Bielik – £20,000
The highest-paid player per Capology’s estimates is the 11-capped Polish international midfielder.
The former Derby County man earns around £20,000 per week, which may come as no surprise considering the Rams paid a club-record £9.5 million fee for Bielik at one point.
He came from Arsenal, so it is to be expected that he would be among Derby and Birmingham’s highest earners in recent years. After impressing last season on loan, Birmingham paid an initial fee reported to be below £1 million for Bielik.
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