PREMIER LEAGUE GET RICH QUICK!
PL clubs pay agents £174m in one year
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs paid out £ 174million to agents over the last two transfer windows, with Manchester City and Chelsea the top spenders.
It means the amount paid by English clubs to agents has risen by 38 per cent — from £160m in 2014-15 to £220m in the last year.
City spent £26.3m on agents’ fees, while Chelsea spent £25.1m. Manchester United, meanwhile, spent £19m. The only two others on double figures are Liverpool (£13.8m) and Arsenal (£10.2m).
Tottenham are competing with Chelsea for the Premier League title and spent £7.2m — less than Bournemouth, West Ham and Championship club Newcastle.
Under FIFA regulations, the FA were forced to reveal how much each side from the Premier League to the National League spent on intermediaries in the last year. The figures cover February 2016 to January 2017.
As reported by Sportsmail this week, the FA also had to announce the name of each agent who was involved in every transaction over the last two windows.
Pep Guardiola’s City and Antonio Conte’s Chelsea lead the way after several stellar signings.
City signed John Stones for £47.5m and Leroy Sane for £37m in the summer, among others. Chelsea’s biggest buy in the last year was David Luiz for £34m.
In the Championship, Newcastle top the table for agents’ fees on £10.4m — more than 16 Premier League clubs, including Arsenal.
In League One, Charlton paid out £608,465. In League Two, Portsmouth paid £175,344.
Hartlepool are the only club in the Football League to have not spent a penny on agents’ fees.
It is recommended that agents — or intermediaries, as FIFA prefer to call them — are paid three per cent of a player’s contract but this can differ from deal to deal.