Team coming in has pay altered: that’s breathtaking! (8)
I believe the answer is:
asphyxia
'that's breathtaking' is the definition.
(asphyxia is deprivation of oxygen)
'team coming in has pay altered' is the wordplay.
'team' becomes 'xi' (a football team, from Roman numerals for 11).
'coming in' is an insertion indicator.
'altered' indicates an anagram.
'has'+'pay'='haspay'
'haspay' is an anagram of 'asphya'.
'xi' put inside 'asphya' is 'ASPHYXIA'.
(Other definitions for asphyxia that I've seen before include "Suffocation, condition caused by lack of oxygen" , "Deprivation of oxygen" , "Shortness of breath" , "Oxygen starvation" , "It's caused by choking or drowning" .)