Man City Wages: Who Earns What at the Etihad
Manchester City's wage bill runs to roughly £4.49m a week, the largest in the Premier League. Erling Haaland leads on £525,000. Here is the full breakdown.
Manchester City pay the largest wage bill in the Premier League: roughly £4.49 million a week, or about £289 million across the 2025/26 season once bonuses are counted. No other English club is close.
That figure is not one contract running away with the payroll. It is the cumulative weight of a squad where a dozen players earn what would make them the top earner at most clubs in the division.
Manchester City’s highest earners
| Player | Reported weekly wage |
|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | £525,000 |
| Bernardo Silva | £300,000 |
| Marc Guéhi | £300,000 |
| Elliot Anderson | £300,000 |
| Gianluigi Donnarumma | £250,000 |
| Phil Foden | £225,000 |
These are reported figures, not published ones. Clubs do not disclose individual salaries, and the numbers above come from wage databases and press reporting rather than from City.
Haaland sits in a bracket of his own
Erling Haaland’s reported £525,000 a week works out at around £27.3 million a year in fixed salary. That is nearly double the next man on the list and puts him among the highest-paid footballers in the world.
The gap matters for how the rest of the structure is read. City’s payroll is not top-heavy in the way a single superstar contract usually makes a club — it is heavy across the board, with Haaland stacked on top of an already expensive squad.
The 2026 window pushed the ceiling up again
Two summer arrivals came in at the same number and reset the second tier of the wage structure.
Elliot Anderson joined from Nottingham Forest on a reported £300,000 a week. Marc Guéhi signed a contract at the same figure running to 2030. Both now sit level with Bernardo Silva, one of the longest-serving members of the squad.
Signing two players straight into the top four earners is unusual. It tells you the club was not treating either as a squad addition, and it lifts the floor for anyone at City negotiating a renewal afterwards.
How City’s bill compares
Arsenal, the reigning champions, carry a wage bill of roughly £187 million a year. City’s is around £289 million. That is a gap of about £100 million a season between the two clubs that finished first and second.
The comparison is worth holding lightly. Wage bills include bonuses, and bonus structures differ sharply between clubs — a title-winning season inflates the figure at the club that won it. But the direction is consistent across every published ranking: City sit first, and not narrowly.
Why wage figures vary between sources
You will find different numbers for the same player depending on where you look, and neither source is necessarily wrong.
- Gross versus net. Some databases publish what the club pays; others publish what the player receives after tax.
- Bonuses. Appearance, goal and trophy bonuses can add a substantial amount to a base salary, and sources differ on whether they include them.
- Image rights. Payments for commercial use of a player’s likeness are often structured separately from the playing contract.
- Timing. A figure published in one window may predate a renewal signed in the next.
Treat any single number as an estimate with a margin around it, not as a disclosed fact.
Frequently asked questions
What is Manchester City’s total wage bill?
Around £4.49 million a week, or approximately £289 million for the 2025/26 season including bonuses — the highest in the Premier League.
Who is Manchester City’s highest-paid player?
Erling Haaland, on a reported £525,000 a week, roughly £27.3 million a year.
How much does Marc Guéhi earn at Manchester City?
A reported £300,000 a week on a contract running to 2030.
How much does Elliot Anderson earn?
A reported £300,000 a week following his move from Nottingham Forest.
Does Manchester City have the highest wage bill in the Premier League?
Yes. City lead the division on wages by a clear margin, ahead of Arsenal at roughly £187 million a year.
Are these figures official?
No. Premier League clubs do not publish individual salaries. Every number here comes from wage databases and press reporting, and should be read as an estimate.
