Agents were paid £1m over last year

DERBY County have spent just over £1m on agents’ fees in the last two transfer windows.

The Rams figure on intermediary and agents’ fees from February 1, 2020 to February 1 of this year was £1,093,744, according to the Football Association.

That period covers last summer’s transfer window as well as the January window just gone.

Thirteen Championship clubs splashed out more than Derby.

In total, Championship clubs have spent more than £40m paying agents over the last year, with Norwich City dishing out the most at £6.8m, followed by Bournemouth (£5,653,160) and Stoke City (£3,082,295).

Wycombe Wanderers spent the least, at £126,053.

The amount spent by each second tier side is: Norwich City £6,827,037 Bournemouth £5,653,160 Stoke City £3,082,295 Reading £2,688,492 Brentford £2,537,207 Nottingham Forest £2,189,016 Swansea City £2,157,388 Watford £2,107,615 Huddersfield Town £1,752,064 Cardiff City £1,619,148 Bristol City £1,581,986 Middlesbrough £1,394,501 Birmingham City £1,260,934 Derby County £1,093,744 Preston North End £816,471 Sheffield Wed £722,988 QPR £691,587 Blackburn Rovers £535,666 Coventry City £525,571 Barnsley £515,162

Luton Town £435,260 Millwall £255,715 Rotherham United £184,469 Wycombe Wanderers £126,053 ■■In contrast, Premier League club Chelsea spent more than £35m on agents’ fees in the 12 months.

The Blues invested heavily in new recruits last summer, bringing in players like England defender Ben Chilwell from Leicester City and Germany international Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen.

The Manchester clubs were the next biggest spenders, with City’s outlay £30,174,615 and United’s £29,801,555.

The lowest top-flight spenders on agents’ fees were West Bromwich Albion, whose outlay was £4,222,059.