This article looks at squad values and wage bills across the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two for the 2026-27 season. It covers the highest and lowest valued squads in each division, the biggest and smallest wage bills where that data is available, and the most valuable player at each level. Figures are also compared against last season to show which clubs have gained and lost value.
Compare every club
The table below covers all Premier League and Football League clubs. Use the tabs to switch between divisions, click any column heading to sort, and select a club to open a full breakdown including its wage bill, rank across all four leagues, and most valuable player.
Squad values via Transfermarkt, converted from EUR at 0.855. Wage bills via Capology (gross annual, first-team squads). Wage data is not publicly available for League One and League Two. Rank change compares each club’s position within its current division to its position in the division it played in last season.
Premier League
The Premier League’s 20 clubs hold £10.79bn in squad value and pay £2.42bn in annual wages. Manchester City lead both counts.
| Metric | Club | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Highest squad value | Manchester City | £1.23bn |
| Lowest squad value | Hull City | £56.6m |
| Value gap | — | 21.8× |
| Highest wage bill | Manchester City | £289.5m |
| Lowest wage bill | Coventry City | £19.7m |
| Wage gap | — | 14.7× |
| Most valuable player | Erling Haaland (Manchester City) | £171.0m |
| League total value | — | £10.79bn |
| League total wages | — | £2.42bn |
The wage gap is narrower than the value gap
Manchester City’s squad is worth 21.8 times more than Hull City’s. But City’s wage bill is only 14.7 times larger. The two gaps do not match, and the difference tells you something about how smaller clubs operate.
Hull City spend 41.2% of their squad value on wages each year. Coventry City spend 10.4%. Both clubs are in the same division, playing the same fixtures, but Hull is committing a far higher share of their squadis value just to field it.
This is common for clubs near the bottom of the table. They cannot compete on transfer fees, so they pay higher wages to attract players who would otherwise sign elsewhere. The squad value stays low because the players are older or on shorter contracts, while the wage commitment stays high. It serves as a survival method, but it leaves little room for investment.
Manchester United recorded the largest increase in the division, rising £80.3m or 12.1%. Crystal Palace had the largest fall at £138.5m, down 23.1%.
Championship
The Championship holds £1.89bn in squad value and £672.5m in wages across 24 clubs. It also contains the widest financial gap of any division in this study.
| Metric | Club | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Highest squad value | Wolverhampton Wanderers | £274.3m |
| Lowest squad value | Lincoln City | £8.1m |
| Value gap | — | 34.0× |
| Highest wage bill | West Ham United | £98.1m |
| Lowest wage bill | Lincoln City | £6.7m |
| Wage gap | — | 14.7× |
| Most valuable player | João Gomes (Wolverhampton Wanderers) | £34.2m |
| League total value | — | £1.89bn |
| League total wages | — | £672.5m |
A 34 times gap from top to bottom
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ squad is worth 34 times more than Lincoln City’s. That gap is wider than the equivalent gap in the Premier League, which sits at 21.8 times.
The reason is parachute payments. Clubs relegated from the Premier League receive money designed to cushion the drop in income, and they arrive in the Championship still carrying Premier League contracts. West Ham United’s wage bill of £98.1m is more than the bottom half of the division pays combined.
Lincoln City sit at the other end. Their £8.1m squad and £6.7m wage bill put them in the same league, and in theory the same promotion race, as clubs spending more than ten times as much.
This shapes how the division works. Promotion is not evenly contested. Recently relegated clubs start each season with squads the rest of the league cannot match on paper, which is part of why so many of them return to the Premier League within a few years.
Every Championship club fell in value this season. Lincoln City recorded the smallest decline at £2.9m. West Ham had the largest at £128.5m, a 32.0% drop, which is the standard pattern after relegation as contracts run down and players leave.
League One
League One’s 24 clubs hold £259.8m in combined squad value. One club accounts for a quarter of it.
| Metric | Club | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Highest squad value | Leicester City | £64.9m |
| Lowest squad value | Bromley | £3.0m |
| Value gap | — | 21.8× |
| Most valuable player | Abdul Fatawu (Leicester City) | £17.1m |
| League total value | — | £259.8m |
One club, a quarter of the division
Leicester City’s squad is valued at £64.9m. The whole division comes to £259.8m, so Leicester hold roughly 25% of it on its own.
They are also the biggest fallers in this study. Leicester dropped £108.8m in squad value, a decline of 62.6%, after consecutive relegations took them from the Premier League to League One. Their most valuable player, Abdul Fatawu, at £17.1m, is worth more than 20 of the 24 clubs in the division have in their entire squad.
The speed of that fall is worth noting. Squad value does not decline gradually as a club moves down the divisions. It drops sharply because players leave, contracts shorten, and the remaining squad is valued against a lower level of competition.
MK Dons recorded the division’s largest increase, up £2.1m or 24.5%.
Note: wage bill data is not publicly available for League One, so this section covers squad values only.
League Two
League Two’s 24 clubs hold £69.2m in combined squad value. It is the smallest total of the four divisions and the most evenly spread.
| Metric | Club | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Highest squad value | Port Vale | £6.0m |
| Lowest squad value | Rochdale | £834k |
| Value gap | — | 7.2× |
| Most valuable player | Sam Nombe (Rotherham United) | £684k |
| League total value | — | £69.2m |
The most level division of the four
Port Vale have the highest squad value in League Two at £6.0m. Rochdale have the lowest at £834k. The gap between them is 7.2 times.
Compare that to the Championship, where the gap is 34 times. League Two has the narrowest spread of any division covered here by a clear margin.
The reason is straightforward. There is less money in the division, so there is less room for any club to pull away from the rest. No League Two club receives parachute payments large enough to distort the table, and squad values sit close enough together that most clubs start the season on a similar footing.
That makes League Two the least predictable of the four divisions in financial terms. Squad value is a weaker guide to where clubs finish, because the differences between them are small enough that recruitment, management and form carry more weight than spending.
Rotherham United had the largest fall at £6.2m, down 61.5%. York City recorded the largest rise at £1.1m.
Note: wage bill data is not publicly available for League Two, so this section covers squad values only.
Conclusion
Three points stand out from the data.
First, the Premier League holds 82.9% of all squad value across the top four divisions. The financial distance between the top flight and the rest of the pyramid is larger than the distance between any two other divisions.
Second, the Championship has the widest internal gap of the four leagues at 34 times from top to bottom. Parachute payments mean recently relegated clubs operate on a different financial level to the rest of the division, which affects how promotion is contested each season.
Third, League Two is the most evenly matched. A 7.2 times gap between the richest and poorest squads means money is a weaker predictor of results there than in any other division covered here.
These figures will change over the course of the season as contracts run down, players are sold, and form shifts valuations. We will update this piece with new data as it becomes available.
Methodology
- Squad values: Transfermarkt, retrieved 20 July 2026. Original figures in euros, converted to pounds at a rate of 0.855.
- Wage bills: Capology, gross annual first-team wages for the 2026-27 and 2025-26 seasons.
- Coverage: Wage data is not publicly available for League One or League Two, so those sections cover squad values only.
- Rank changes: Compare each club’s position within its current division to its position in the division it played in last season. Promoted and relegated clubs are marked accordingly in the interactive table.
- Squad values reflect Transfermarkt’s market valuations. These are estimates based on age, contract length, performance and transfer market conditions, not confirmed transfer fees or accounting values.
Journalists are welcome to cite this research with a link to BylineCoverage. For the full dataset or a comment from our team, get in touch.