Everton's squad is divided between players who will be forced to take a pay-cut if the Toffees are relegated and those who will not have their wages impacted.
Sean Dyche's side are in serious trouble as they languish in 19th place in the Premier League table, two points from safety. Morale is low around Goodison Park, particularly after Thursday night's humbling 4-1 home defeat by Newcastle.
There are mounting fears over just how severe the financial repercussions will be felt if Everton were to be relegated from the Premier League. As per the Telegraph, officials within Everton's hierarchy started to plan with the thought of relegation in mind last summer after the Toffees survived by the skin of their teeth last term.
This included inserting relegation clauses into the contracts of all new signings. However, members of the squad who were already at the club do not have that included in their deal, while goalkeeper Jordan Pickford penned a new contract at the turn of the year thought to be worth £150,000 per-week.
Though the Toffees did generate some cash and shift high-earner Richarlison off the books last summer after the Brazilian's £60million move to Tottenham, the likes of Yerry Mina and Dominic Calvert-Lewin remain at Goodison and even Andre Gomes, currently out on loan at Lille, has a contract that runs to next summer.
Everton did not make a single signing during the January transfer window this season and two months later declared huge financial losses for the fifth year in a row, which has cost the club north of £420 million. The club has been referred to an independent commission regarding a potential breach of profitability and sustainability rules by the Premier League.
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For now though, the focus of Dyche and his players must be entirely on survival and trying to raise the level from the one show during Thursday's miserable outing against the Magpies.
The Everton boss was brutal in his assessment of the performance after the game as he conceded: "I’m disappointed, very disappointed, in the end.
"I thought in the first half we did everything that I wanted. Other than conceding, we did everything that I thought was right for a performance against a good side in Newcastle. The mix of our play, the energy, the pressing. I thought it was all there other than the goal, which I thought we could have prevented earlier in the move.
"We scored a ‘near-goal’ with a fine bit of play just before half-time and then we started the second half bright.
Dyche went on to bemoan the worrying trend of his players responding poorly to conceding goals.
He added: "Then as soon as the second goes in, which is a really poor goal defensively, it is how quickly the game gets away and we can’t let that happen. It happened against Fulham, when the whole performance changed on one goal, and it happened again tonight so we have got to correct that very quickly."
