Soccer

Premier League clubs spend over £272m on agents’ fees in 12 month period

Chelsea lead way with £35m paid to agents to facilitate arrival of Werner, Havertz etc

Kai Havertz and Timo Werner: two of Chelsea’s high-profile and costly signings in 2020. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Wed Mar 31 2021 - 18:30

Chelsea were the biggest Premier League spenders on agents' fees in the 12 months to the start of February 2021, data released by the English Football Association (FA) shows.

The club invested heavily last summer to bring in Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Ben Chilwell among others and spent £35,247,822 on agents' fees.

Manchester City were the next-highest spenders with £30,174,615, and Manchester United spent slightly less: £29,801,555. The lowest top-flight spenders on agents' fees were West Brom, whose outlay was £4,222,059.

In total, clubs in this season’s Premier League spent £272,220,223 on such fees between 1 February 2020 and 1 February 2021, despite clubs suffering major losses because of the pandemic. The total was higher than the amount spent by top-flight sides between 1 February 2019 and 31 January 2020, when the figure was £263,368,860.

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Spending on agents’ fees was down by more than £9m in the Championship compared with the previous 12 months. Clubs in this season’s second tier spent £40,753,529, with relegated Norwich spending the most (£6,827,037) and promoted Wycombe the least (£126,053).

Spending on agents was also slightly down in Leagues One and Two compared with the previous 12 months.

Among clubs this season in League One (total £3,082,105) Hull spent the most on agents (£543,238) and Gillingham were the only club to spend nothing in any of the top four divisions.

Salford were comfortably the biggest spenders among clubs in League Two this season, their £137,884 also a larger amount than was spent by 17 League One clubs. The League Two total was £1,069,115.

Premier League: Who spent what on agents' fees
Chelsea £35,247,822
Manchester City £30,174,615
Manchester United £29,801,555
Liverpool £21,652,589
Tottenham £16,520,177
Arsenal £16,462,480
Everton £14,071,886
Leicester £12,518,018
Wolves £12,598,466
Newcastle £11,349,953
West Ham £9,689,567
Fulham £9,347,927
Aston Villa £8,928,343
Brighton £7,496,038
Sheffield United £7,081,018
Leeds £7,034,943
Southampton £6,804,154
Crystal Palace £6,760,093
Burnley £4,458,520
West Brom £4,222,059

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