The Football Association (FA) has released its annual figures for payments made by clubs to agents and intermediaries, and the numbers are staggering.
Across the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two, a total of just over £482.6 million was paid to agents in the year ending February 3, 2025.
The Premier League contributed £409m to that figure, with the rest coming from clubs in the English Football League.
Although the Premier League figure was down marginally – less than £500,000 – from the previous season’s record, it still underlines the vast sums involved in player recruitment and retention.
Premier League
Chelsea were the biggest spenders for the second consecutive year, committing £60.4m to agents.
That represents a drop from the £75m they paid last year, but it remains the highest fee in the division by some distance.
While they showed some restraint in recent transfer windows, the hangover from their early transfer activity under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital continues to inflate their figures.
The structure of agent fees means payments are often spread across the length of a player’s contract, so signings such as Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez – recruited in 2023 – are likely still contributing to the latest totals.
The club’s overall spending on agents since the summer of 2022 now nears £179m – a figure that reflects their aggressive squad rebuild and the costly nature of brokering deals at the highest level.
Manchester City, who topped the agent spending chart in 2022-23, were next on the list with £52.1m.
While that figure was down from last year’s £60.2m, it was likely swelled by their January acquisitions and the bumper new contract signed by Erling Braut Haaland.
Manchester United came in third with £33m, a figure that will be scrutinised in a season in which on-pitch results have fallen well below expectations.
Newly-promoted Ipswich Town spent just £6m on agent fees – the lowest in the division.
That figure was still three times what Luton Town paid last season, reflecting the inflationary pressures of maintaining top-flight status.
Championship
Leeds United were by far the biggest spenders in the Championship, with a surprising outlay of £18.8m, a sum greater than those recorded by several top-half Premier League clubs.
Their figure accounted for nearly a third of the Championship’s total agent spend. Burnley were next in line with £5.3m, reflecting the influence of Premier League parachute payments.
Elsewhere, play-off contenders Bristol City were comparatively frugal in their dealings with agents at £1.3m.
League One
Spending on agents was naturally much lower in League One but still notable in the context of club budgets.
Huddersfield Town led the way with £1.1m. Wrexham, continuing their Hollywood-fuelled rise, more than doubled their agent spending from last year to just under £800,000.
While not at the top of the League One list, it reflects the increasing financial muscle at the Racecourse Ground under co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
League Two
Fleetwood Town’s mind-boggling £284,407 outlay on agents undoubtedly raises questions about the legitimacy of the EFL’s Owner’s and Directors’ Test.
Former owner Andy Pilley was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud in July 2023, and the club was subsequently passed into the sole control of his son, Jamie.
The EFL handed him a suspended three-month ban from acting as a club director due to the circumstances surrounding the switch, but said he still satisfied the requirements of their owners’ test.
