Today, the FA released the figures revealing how much Premier League clubs have paid to agents, known as intermediary transaction details.
These figures show the amounts each club paid agents in the past year, for the most part as part of transfer deals, and indicate not only total spending but also how much certain deals hinge on the involvement and payment of agents. In total, Premier League clubs spent more than £272 million on agent fees last year, an increase of around nine million on last year’s total. Despite the onset of a global pandemic, it is notable that Premier League clubs did not slow down in their spending – instead, increasing to new levels.
Chelsea were the top spenders with agents fees, spending £35 million on agents fees. This lines up with their summer of frivolous spending, with several high-profile transfers in Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell and Hakim Ziyech for a total spend of £225 million. This means that Chelsea’s agent spend was therefore around 15% of their total transfer spend.
While Chelsea’s total spend on agents fees was high, their 15% proportional spend – that is, how they spent on agents as a total % of their transfer spend – is actually rather sensible. Manchester City spent a total of £30 million on agent fees last year, which was the second-highest amount in the Premier League. But, when viewed in comparison to their total transfer spend of around £130 million (primarily on Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake), we can see that Manchester City actually have a very large proportional spend: 23% of their total transfer funds were spent on agent fees.
Manchester United are in a similar situation. Their agent fee spend was third highest, clocking in at £29 million, but their total spend for the summer was £74 million. This means their proportional agent spend was 39%(!) of their total transfer spend – although it should be remembered that they also brought in Edinson Cavani on a free, and agent fees might have been the reason that deal was able to be finalised.
Other notable agent fee spenders were Liverpool, with £21 million, Arsenal with £16 million, and Tottenham, who also spent £16 million. On the lower end of the scale, West Brom, Leeds and Burnley spent the lowest on agent’s fees. The latter is not particularly surprising, as Burnley spent very little on players. However, West Brom’s £33 million transfer spend compared to their £4 million paid out in agent fees puts them on an impressive proportional spend of 12%. Leeds went one better, though. They spent a grand total of £96 million on transfers, including Diego Llorente, Rodrigo, and Raphinha, but spent only £7 million on agents fees: only 7% of their total spend. That in itself is very impressive.
What is most telling about this final comparison is that it shows us that agents demand higher fees from bigger clubs. While Manchester United did not spend nearly as much as Leeds did, they paid over three times as much in agents fees. Agents are aware of the financial capabilities of the clubs they are selling their players to, with Manchester United’s behemoth capitalist machine seemingly working against them in this aspect of the transfer market. Perhaps it is, in a sense, justice: the big clubs don’t have everything their way. But if you were to ask Ed Woodward what he sees of it, there is no doubt he would call the agents ‘greedy’.
