Premier League clubs paid a total of 272.2 million pounds ($375.1 million) to agents in the year to Feb. 2021, with Chelsea heading the list of top-flight spenders, according to data released by the Football Association (FA) on Wednesday.
Despite suffering major losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier League clubs spent nearly nine million pounds more on agent fees than in the previous year.
Chelsea invested heavily in the close-season transfer window to bring in Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Edouard Mendy and spent 35.2 million pounds in agent fees.
League leaders Manchester City were second on the list, forking out 30.1 million pounds on agent fees as manager Pep Guardiola added Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres to the squad, while rivals Manchester United spent 29.8 million pounds.
West Bromwich Albion spent the smallest amount among the top-flight outfits, paying 4.2 million pounds to agents.
Clubs in the second-tier Championship spent a total of 40.7 million pounds on agent fees, with relegated Norwich City spending the most (6.8 million pounds).
($1 = 0.7257 pounds) (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
