Chelsea top the Premier League table… with record spending of £75m on agents | first division
Premier League clubs spent more than £400m on agents in the year to February 2024, with Chelsea handing out a record £75m to player representatives.
Published figures Football Association data shows Premier League clubs paid £409m to intermediaries between February 1, 2023 and February 1, 2024, which includes the last two transfer windows.
Chelsea spent the most, with 71 transactions. Manchester City's £60.6m total for the year put them second on the all-time table. Manchester United (£34m) and Liverpool (£31.5m) also feature in the all-time top 10.
Fast guidePremier League spending on agents, from February 1, 2023 to February 1, 2024
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Chelsea £75.1 million
city of manchester £60.6 million
manchester united £34.1 million
Liverpool £31.5 million
Arsenal £24.8 million
Aston Villa £21.2 million
Tottenham £19.7 million
Newcastle £18.9 million
Bournemouth 16 million pounds
western ham £13.9 million
Wolves £13.4 million
Nottingham Forest £13.1 million
Fulham €12.1
Brighton £11.4 million
crystal Palace £11.1 million
Everton £10.6 million
Brentford £8.1 million
Burnley £6.9 million
Sheffield United £5.1 million
London 2 million pounds
The eye-opening figures reveal a sharp increase year on year, with £318m spent on agents by the league's 20 clubs in 2022-23.
In the Championship, the total fees incurred by all 24 clubs amounted to less than Chelsea's total, but the growth was even starker, with the total of £36m in 2022-23 almost doubling to £61m. Leeds United spent the most in the division, spending £13m across 35 deals.
The news comes at a time when clubs are under increased scrutiny for excessive spending, both from fans and through the Premier League and EFL's profitability and sustainability (PSR) rules. This week Everton received an additional two-point penalty for violating the PSR limits on financial losses. Three days later the league agreed to introduce rules that would limit spending on player-related costs to 70% of clubs' income in European competitions.
The majority of top-class clubs have confirmed that they will be increase the cost of season tickets for the next season. Last month, Chelsea fans wrote to the club expressing “significant concerns regarding future ticket prices”, while City fans unveiled a banner protesting against price increases ahead of the recent Premier League match against Arsenal.
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The increase in agent fees reflects the successful response by player representatives to new FIFA rules aimed at curbing that spending. Last November, an FA tribunal found that certain elements of the FIFA Football Agents Regulations (FFAR) were incompatible with British competition law. It is understood that a key element that did not meet the tribunal's assessment was the proposal that agents' fees should be capped at $10 million when acting on behalf of a selling club.
