Leicester players set to pocket £300,000 each

The table-toppers are certain to enter a third successive season in the top flight after their phenomenal start and are five points from reaching the 40 mark traditionally seen as guaranteeing safety.

An agreement made before last season saw the squad share a pot of money totalling around £6million this summer just gone and it is believed a similar prize pool is in place this campaign.

Beyond any incentives in the players' personal contracts the cash is set to be shared out once a final position is confirmed, with increments for higher placings thought to be included.

After securing 14th position following a remarkable escape from relegation last term, Leicester players are each understood to have received around £300,000. 

The squad, populated by mostly the same members, is well on the way to finishing significantly higher this season. No team top at this stage has ended up lower than fourth.

The prize money seems just rewards set against the huge increase in TV cash that comes into effect next season, when each Premier League club banks around £150m per year. 

Manager Claudio Ranieri, meanwhile, will land a bumper £1.7m bonus to his three-year contract if he can keep the team at the top of the table. 

The canny Italian's deal will net him an extra £100,000 a place from 17th and above in what was an incentive-based arrangement on his arrival at the club in the summer. 

(dailymail.co.uk)