No more heartwarming a story than hearing about football agents getting paid millions and millions of pounds
Liverpool have earned many plaudits for their title challenge this campaign but it comes amid spending a whopping £43.8 million on agents fees – significantly higher than any other Premier League club.
Not only did the Reds hand out new contracts to Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Andrew Robertson and Jordan Henderson; they brought in Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri, Alisson, and record signing Naby Keita for a combined £160m.
All of these deals saw the fees paid to agents far surpass any rival club, according to the FA’s official figures for the period between 1 February 2018 and 31 January 2019.
With £43.8m spent by Liverpool, their fees came in over 70 percent higher than Chelsea’s figure of £26.8m. Manchester City forked out £24.1m having signed Riyad Mahrez and Manchester United complete the top four with their total of £20.7m.
In total, top-flight teams spent £260.6m on agents fees last year.
On Friday, Premier League clubs will meet to discuss fresh regulations aimed at clamping down on agents fees, in particular on dual representation, where agents are paid by both the buying and selling club.
Surprisingly, Arsenal are thoroughly mid-table in this year’s figures, below the likes of West Ham and Leicester on £11.18m. There is very little to split between the Gunners and local rivals’ Tottenham Hotspur, who sent agents £11.14m despite not actually signing a player.
Down at the bottom of the table are Cardiff City, who spent a measly £2.8m. This is less than Championship clubs Aston Villa, Derby County, Swansea, West Brom, and Stoke City, whose £7.2m tops the league.
