20 Premier League Clubs RANKED: Who Paid The Most To Agents In 2021/22?

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2 years ago

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves

The FA unveiled official figures last week detailing every Premier League teams’ payments to agents or intermediaries from February last year to the end of the 2022 January transfer window.

A total of £272m has been handed out over that period, despite the fact that the vast majority of these clubs were suffering heavy losses during the global health crisis.

The transfer merry-go-round never seems to stop and, from the looks of things, English top-flight teams are still prepared to grease the wheels to get players in through the door.

Press the next page as we rank the 20 Premier League sides based on the amount they’ve paid to agents.

One of the highest-profile deals among the four teams below was the £15m that Southampton spent on Adam Armstrong, yet the Saints are the second-lowest spenders when it comes to agents. Brentford did spend the best part of £33m in total last summer but they did a good job in terms of paying intermediaries very little.

20) Brentford – £3,499,285
19) Southampton – £4,941,761
18) Burnley – £6,005,185
17) Brighton – £6,244,039

Newcastle will probably shoot up the rankings in the coming years, going by the £35m they shelled out on Bruno Guimaraws in January but, for the time being, they are pretty well down the list, along with Crystal Palace. Norwich are surprisingly high but, as they spent well over £50m on players last summer, including on the likes of Christos Tzolis, Milot Rashica and Josh Sargent, the agent fee figure can be explained away.

16) Newcastle – £7,717,687
15) Norwich – £8,667,246
14) Crystal Palace – £8,865,453
13) Aston Villa – £9,557,054

Kurt Zouma’s £25m switch to the London Stadium from Chelsea was certainly one of the standout transfers from the four below clubs, so that would have pushed the Hammers higher up. Everton’s disappointing season comes into even greater focus when you realise they are in the top 10 for agent fees. If you take into account that they’ve only spent £35m on transfers, you have to ask where the £11.5m figure for intermediaries has come from.

12) West Ham – £10,532,927
11) Leeds – £11,396,947
10) Everton – £11,494,820
9) Wolves – £11,958,954

The Gunners had a very big summer, including the purchases of Ben White (£50m) and Aaron Ramsdale (an initial £24m), but the surprise name in the four teams below is Watford. The Hornets are competing with the top eight teams in terms of agent fees but are battling against relegation.

8) Leicester – £12,046,495
7) Watford – £12,593,435
6) Tottenham – £13,938,231
5) Arsenal – £18,652,818

There are no surprises in the top four. The four clubs generally pay a lot out to agents as they spend the most in the transfer market, summed up by the British record fee Manchester City spent to bring in Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in the summer.

4) Liverpool – £22,136,224
3) Chelsea – £28,227,858
2) Manchester United – £29,036,141
1) Manchester City – £35,046,646