Stefan Borson: Liverpool’s ‘enormous’ wage bill ‘shatters the illusions’ about their spending
Liverpool’s players were paid handsomely in their title-winning campaign at Anfield last season.
Football Insider previously revealed Liverpool’s wage bill had surpassed £400million in 2024-25 due to the bonuses owed to players and staff after being crowned champions.
That has been backed up by figures released in Deloitte’s 2026 Money League, where it reported Liverpool’s wages have increased from £386m in 2023-24 to £421m last season.
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are the highest earners at Anfield, with the duo both believed to be on around £400,000 a week after signing new deals last April.
Manchester City paid the highest wages in the Premier League in previous years, but their total dropped from £413m in 2023-24 to £408m after failing to win a major trophy last season.
How much did Liverpool pay in Premier League bonuses?
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Liverpool’s players likely received around £20m in bonuses for winning the Premier League under Arne Slot.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s revenue reached a new club record, with Deloitte’s figures suggesting their turnover surged from £614m to £702m.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “Taking the wages first, I think you do have to say that there’s let’s say £20m in there for winning the league. That would put them back at the same sort of level from a wage perspective as the wage number that’s here about City.
“Interestingly, the Deloitte number is not the same as the audited number in the Manchester City accounts. They make some adjustments because if you look, it says City is £397m, but the audit says £408m, so there’s about a £10m difference. It’s always very hard to know what that is.
“Manchester United similarly is reported here to be £340m, but it’s not the same in the published accounts. I think it’s a bit higher, so Liverpool’s when they publish the audited number, it might be slightly different.”
Why Liverpool’s wage bill has surpassed £400m
Borson insisted Liverpool’s wage bill is “enormous” despite suggestions they operate differently to some of the other top clubs.
“The bottom line is, Liverpool were running at around £400m last season on the run rate, which of course shatters a few of the illusions about how Liverpool do things differently to most other clubs,” said Borson.
“I mean, the reality is that the wage bill is enormous. It’s not a problem, it’s not criticism, it’s justified in the fact that they won the league. But people need to realise that they haven’t done it through any kind of incredible prudence.
“They’ve done it because they have a very high-quality squad that’s paid a lot of money and it puts them up there with the Real Madrid’s and the Barcelona’s.”
Liverpool currently sit sixth in the Premier League table following their 3-2 defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday (24 January).
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