Chelsea spend most on agents for second successive year

Chelsea have spent the most on agents fees of all Premier League clubs for the second successive year.

The Football Assocation has released, external the net total paid to football agents by every club in the top five divisions of English men's football, and the top two tiers of the women's game.

The figures, which cover the period between 2 February 2024 and 3 February 2025, show Chelsea spent a little over £60m for agents to help facilitate transfers for the men's team.

This is the most of any Premier League side, although the figure is down on their 2023-24 outlay of £75.1m.

The 20 Premier League teams spent a combined £409.1m on fees, down from £409.5m in the previous period.

Manchester City again spent the second most on agents - a little over £52m - followed by Manchester United with an outlay of £33m.

Aston Villa (£25m) and Newcastle (£24.3m) complete the top five biggest spenders, with the current Premier League top two of Arsenal (£22.8m) and Liverpool (£20.8m) following behind.

West Ham (£19m), Tottenham (£18.4m) and Brighton (£16.5m) are in the top 10 for outlay.

The lowest spenders were Ipswich Town, who paid out just £6.2m across a period in which they were promoted to the Premier League.

In the Championship, Leeds United far outspent the rest of the division in their attempt to get promoted back to the top flight.

Daniel Farke's side spent £18.8m on agent fees, with the 24-club league paying out a combined £63.2m.

The second biggest spenders in the Championship were Burnley, who paid a comparatively small £5.3m to agents in this period.

In the Women's Super League, Chelsea were also the highest spenders on agents, with the champions paying £622,604 to intermediaries.

This is nearly triple the amount of the second-highest spenders, Manchester City - £288,628 - with the 12 WSL clubs paying a combined £2.1m to agents.

This means Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea were responsible for 28.6% of the division's spending.