Having a quality goalie is near the top of any manager’s priority list when building a successful squad, thus here is a list of the top eleven highest-paid custodians in the Championship.
The goalie is by far the most specialised position on the football pitch. We witness this on rare instances when outfield players must deputize for them during games. It takes years of training to become a professional in this field.
Given this, it may surprise you to find that goalkeepers are not among the Championship’s greatest players. Indeed, only two players are among the top 50 earners in the division, according to Capology.
There are a few significant absentees from this list. Carl Rushworth has received widespread recognition for his part in Coventry City’s title-winning club, yet Capology estimates his weekly wages at £6,250. The same is true for Birmingham City’s James Beadle.
This is, of course, because of their ages. These two goalkeepers are somewhat young, at 24 and 21, respectively, but as we’ll see, this isn’t always a barrier to earning a solid living in the Championship.
11Viktor Johansson – £18,750-a-week
Signed from Rotherham United in 2024, Swedish goalkeeper Viktor Johansson finished 2024-25 as Stoke City’s player of the year, but this season has been disappointing, with Johansson missing the second half of the season after suffering a shoulder injury against Sheffield United at the end of December.
Johansson returned for Stoke’s final game of the season, but his nightmare began with a first-minute error that gave Bristol City their first goal in a 2-0 victory. Prior to his injury, he had been in much better form, keeping eight clean sheets in 25 appearances for them.
10Daniel Iversen – £18,750-a-week
Preston North End bought Danish goalkeeper Daniel Iversen from Leicester City during the summer of 2025. Capology considers him to be one of their better-paid players, though they do keep many of their salaries at roughly the same level.
Iversen maintained eight clean sheets in 36 appearances for Preston during the 2025-26 season, helping his team finish 14th in the Championship. He only joined Preston last summer, but his contract there is still valid for three years.
9Lawrence Vigouroux – £18,750-a-week
Lawrence Vigouroux of Swansea City is the second of three Championship goalkeepers predicted to earn this much money. Swansea finished the season in 11th place, and they were the only team in the top half to have a negative goal difference.
If anything, the Swans’ problems were on the opposite end of the pitch. The 57 goals they scored were the joint-lowest in the top half, and Vigouroux underlined his value to Swansea by keeping 12 clean sheets in 45 appearances.
8Egil Selvik – £18,750-a-week
Egil Selvik, Watford’s Norwegian goalkeeper, will almost probably represent Norway in the World Cup this summer, and his unusually high income at Watford may be influenced by his international status, however Capology does not consider him to be one of their best-paid players.
Selvik kept seven clean sheets in 40 appearances for the Hornets in 2025-26, but as evidenced by his Fotmob player ratings, his form deteriorated dramatically in the final weeks of the season, as his team suffered five consecutive defeats in their last five games, finishing 16th in the Championship table.
7Michael Cooper – £21,875-a-week
Sheffield United’s highly rated rookie goalkeeper Michael Cooper had a mixed 2025-26 season, which ended prematurely when he was sidelined for the rest of the season with a knee injury at the end of February. He kept eight clean sheets for them in 34 outings.
Cooper was the subject of significant transfer speculation last summer, with Everton and West Ham United among the clubs said to be interested in signing him. It remains to be seen whether the Blades’ dismal performance this season will excuse Cooper from such criticism again this summer.
6Gavin Bazunu – £25,000-a-week
When Viktor Johansson was injured at the conclusion of last year, Stoke City needed a substitute, so they brought in Southampton’s Gavin Bazunu on loan.
Bazunu has had a difficult time after an achilles tendon injury forced him out of the Southampton club in April 2024. The following January, he was loaned out to Standard Liege, however the loan was cut short due to a knee injury.
Bazunu began the season in goal for Southampton, making 19 appearances in the first half of the season before moving to Stoke after they loaned Daniel Peretz from Bayern Munich for the remainder of the season. However, he only appeared six times for Stoke, conceding in each of them. Throughout the season, he maintained five clean sheets in 25 Championship matches, all for Southampton.
5 Thomas Kaminski – £25,000-a-week
Belgian goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski joined Charlton Athletic from Luton Town in the summer of 2025, and Capology ranks him as the club’s second-highest paid player after Conor Coady.
It may surprise you that the team with the lowest payroll in the division has a goalkeeper on this list, but Kaminski has earned his money with 11 clean sheets in 37 appearances for Charlton this season. Given that they finished the season by retaining their Championship spot for another season, his transfer may be considered a success.
4Vladan Kovacevic – £25,000-a-week
Vladan Kovacevic, who arrived from Sporting CP last summer, had a somewhat good debut season at Norwich City, keeping eight clean sheets in 45 games as the Canaries recovered from a poor start to finish ninth in the league table.
In April, Norwich head coach Philippe Clement expressed his delight with his goalkeeper’s progress over the course of the season, saying, “It’s also good for him that he can shine one moment, because we had a lot of games where he didn’t have so much to do, and there were other people who were in the spotlight, so he deserves a spotlight for today.”
3Ryan Allsop – £25,000-a-week
Following an outstanding 2024-25 season in which he was named to the League One Team of the Season, Ryan Allsop’s season has been disappointing, as he lost his place as Birmingham City’s first-choice goalkeeper to James Beadle at the end of September and has been unable to regain it.
However, the 33-year-old’s season has not been a complete washout. He signed a two-year contract extension with St Andrew’s in November. However, he only made 11 appearances for the Blues this season, keeping two clean sheets, and he has only appeared once in the league in 2026.
2Christian Walton – £34,375-a-week
Ipswich Town’s Christian Walton had an exceptional season after taking over from Alex Palmer in October and finishing 2025-26 as their Players’ Player of the Season.
Walton’s squad was promoted back to the Premier League after a year away, and he finished the season with 16 clean sheets in 37 games, second only to Carl Rushworth of Coventry City.
The goalkeeper joined Ipswich from Brighton in 2022, but his career has been up and down since then. He was their first choice in the 2022-23 League One title-winning team, but he was unable to get a spot in the following two years. The question now for his manager, Kieran McKenna, is whether to give him a chance to shine in the Premier League next season at Portman Road.
1Alex McCarthy – £50,000-a-week
Southampton’s Alex McCarthy earns £50,000 a week, including bonuses, making him the highest-paid goalkeeper in the Championship. He is the only goalie on Capology’s list of the 25 highest-paid players in the division.
But, at 36 years old, the goalkeeper, who has been with St Mary’s for a decade, did not play much first-team games in 2025-26. He made only seven league appearances this season and kept one clean sheet. He has been missing since February due to a wrist injury that required surgery.
McCarthy’s contract expires this summer, but there has been no word on whether he would remain at St Mary’s, transfer elsewhere, or retire from the game entirely. The Saints still have the play-offs to come, and it’s unlikely that they’ll make a decision until it’s determined whether they’ll play in the Premier League or the Championship the following season.
The strong form of loanee Daniel Peretz, whose loan might become permanent if the Saints win promotion, implies that the long-serving Southampton goalkeeper’s time at St Mary’s may be drawing to a close.
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