According to the FA, the 20 clubs in the Premier League clubs spent a remarkable £318,219,426 on agent fees in the last year, with defending champion Manchester City spending the most at £51.6 million. Between February 1, 2022, and January 31, 2023, a record amount was spent, an increase of £46 million over the previous year, perhaps as a result of the high-profile spending binges of teams like Chelsea and Manchester United.
The numbers, which the governing body of English football disclosed on Friday, cover payments and transactions involving agents and intermediaries registered in England for any long-term or short-term agreements, as well as revised contracts or registrations.
Premier League clubs register record spendings on agent fees
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City top the charts for agent fees paid with £51.6 million, which is £200,000 more than what they paid Borussia Dortmund for him last summer for the acquisition of Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland. Unsurprisingly, City’s signing of Haaland resulted in the largest sum of money being spent to agents; the transfer deal for the talented striker apparently included over £35 million in agent fees.
City’s fellow spending rivals Chelsea have signed 21 players on permanent contracts and two on loan, for a combined agent fees of £43.2 million (an average of £1.9 million per signing) since the arrival of new owner Todd Boehly. With £33.7 million, Liverpool came in third place behind Manchester United, who spent £24.7 million. Tottenham and Arsenal, who are embroiled in an unprecedented title race this season are next with $16.6 and $16.1 million, respectively.
Nottingham Forest paid £4.4 million on agent fees despite adding a stunning 30 players over both transfer windows, placing them lowest. The amounts paid by the top four on the list and the rest of the ranks clearly differ from one another, as would be expected.
There was only a £12.3 million difference between Arsenal in fifth place (£16.7 million) and Forest in twentieth place (£4.4 million), but there is a £34.9 million difference between Arsenal and City, which is almost as much money as was paid to agents to recruit Haaland.
The third-least expensive team was Brentford ($5.6 million), who is competing for a place in the European qualifying round this year. Relegation-threatened Leeds ($15.3 million), Everton ($13.5 million), and West Ham ($12.03 million) finished eighth, ninth, and tenth, respectively.
The top tier of English football naturally saw far greater spending than the other levels, with a predictable relationship between agent fees and league divisions. While the 24 clubs spent less on agent fees during the period than they had the previous year, the entire Championship came to £36.8 million, or roughly the same amount as West Ham, Leeds, and Crystal Palace put together.
League One and League Two together cost £5.7m and £1.7m, which is less than the lowest-spending top-flight team. With a cost of £163,737, National League leaders Wrexham also took the top spot in agency fees, which may not come as a surprise given that they are owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.