As Covid hits top clubs hard, they STILL pay agents £272m!

PREMIER LEAGUE clubs forked out a record £272million to agents over the past year, even as coronavirus wrought financial turmoil across the sport. Chelsea, who bought £220m worth of players last summer, spent the most — an unprecedented £35.2m. Manchester City (£30.2m), Manchester United (£29.8m), Tottenham (£16.5m) and Arsenal (£16.5m) also paid agents more than ever before during the 12 months up to February 1. Arsenal’s bill rose by nearly £3m despite plans to axe 55 staff because of the pandemic. They and Tottenham also borrowed a combined £295m of public money via the Bank of England. Other clubs, including Newcastle and Burnley, paid more to agents despite using the furlough scheme. Champions Liverpool, meanwhile, dished out £21.7m, down £8.5m on the previous year, with West Bromwich (£4.2m) the league’s lowest spenders. In total, top-flight clubs splashed out nearly £9m more than in 2019-20, despite being expected to rack up £2billion losses by the end of this season. Clive Efford of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee called for a cap on agent fees, saying: ‘The amount of money that goes into the pockets of agents is obscene.’ In the EFL, where clubs facing ‘financial ruin’ required a £250m Premier League bailout, payments to representatives fell. Championship sides spent £40.8m (down from £49.3m), with League One clubs paying £3.1m (from £3.9m) and the League Two total dropping to £1.1m (from £1.2m).