Scott Parker will be the highest paid player in the Championship next season on £75,000-a-week, according to reports.

The Fulham captain, who is recovering from an ankle operation, will dwarf even the pay rise handed to former White Pavel Pogrebnyak.

The striker who quit Fulham in 2012 will trouser £55k-a-week as part of clauses in his contract with Reading whom he moved to after turning down a Whites deal, but still way off the former West Ham, Tottenham and Chelsea midfielder.

Second of the high earners: Pavel Pogrebnyak

Parker reckons his ankle op has gone well and he’s looking forward to the start of the new season after the majority of the squad became the first in England to return to training this week.

The 34-year-old in the last year of his Fulham contract said: “I was struggling a little bit at the back end of last season and missing a few games here and there.

“I just felt I didn’t want to take the problem into the new season. It wasn’t a drastic procedure, I just had a couple of bits of bone removed.

“It all went well and now I’m looking forward to the start of the season.”