Newcastle United £76m spend dwarfed by Man United & Liverpool in shock Premier League wage data

As expected, Newcastle’s player wages increased significantly during the 2022-23 campaign following the big money signings of Alexander Isak, Sven Botman and Anthony Gordon. Nick Pope, Matt Targett, Loris Karius and Harrison Ashby also joined during the season.

While The Magpies were able to trim their wages slightly with the departures of Jonjo Shelvey and Chris Wood to Nottingham Forest as well as the loans of Martin Dubravka, Jeff Hendrick, Isaac Hayden and Karl Darlow, their total wages for the 2022-23 season stood at £76,220,600, according to OLBG data. That marks an increase of £15,124,400 from the previous campaign.

Newcastle United’s fourth place finish made all the more impressive

While Newcastle have spent over £250million on new signings over the last three transfer windows, their wage structure has remained fairly conservative compared to some of their Premier League rivals as they try to adhere to Financial Fair Play regulations.

Newcastle’s £76.22m wage spend was only the 10th highest in the Premier League in 2022-23, making the club’s fourth place finish all the more impressive. Chelsea, who finished the season in 12th, boasted the highest total salary at £212.1million - almost three times that of Newcastle’s.

Manchester United - who finished third- had the second highest at £211.86million while Premier League champions Manchester City’s stood at £182.64million. Runners-up Arsenal had a comparatively modest wage budget of £97.88million.

Liverpool missed out on Champions League football despite having the fourth highest wage budget of £158.79million while Tottenham Hotspur missed out on Europe altogether with a wage budget of £110.44million for the 2022-23 season.

Newcastle’s wage spend for the season was less than Aston Villa (£89.88million), West Ham United (£80.1million) and Everton (£80.71million) and only £3million more than Leicester City (£73.2million), who were relegated from the Premier League.

Brentford had the lowest wage spend of just £30.17million, making their top half finish all the more impressive while Brighton & Hove Albion’s arguably got the most ‘bang for their buck’ as they finished sixth and qualified for Europe despite despite having the second lowest wage spend of £35.69million.

Nottingham Forest’s promotion to the Premier League saw them have the highest wage increase of any club as their seasonal salary jumped over £45million to £67.46million.

Data shows Premier League clubs’ wage changes from 2021-22 to 2022-23

Data provided by OLBG.