Chelsea paid out more than £75m to football agents and intermediaries over the 12-month period to February 2024, as Premier League clubs spent a combined £409.5m.
Manchester City’s outlay on agent fees exceeded £60m, according to figures released by the Football Association detailing payments made by Premier League, EFL and National League clubs.
The figures may also include transactions which clubs entered into before the start of the reporting period in February 2023.
Chelsea (£75.1m) and Manchester City (£60.6m) far outspent their Premier League rivals, with Manchester United the third-highest spenders (£34m) – having paid less than half of Chelsea’s total.
It comes after Chelsea’s spending on transfer and loan fees since Todd Boehly took over ownership of the club in the summer of 2022 exceeded the £1bn mark. Among the deals, the signing of midfielder Moises Caicedo could rise to a British record £115m.
Liverpool (£31.5m), Arsenal (£24.7m) and Aston Villa (£21.1m) all spent in excess of £20m on agent fees, with Tottenham (£19.7m) and Newcastle United (£18.8m) close behind.
Luton Town spent the least among Premier League clubs, paying out £2m, as last season’s relegated top-flight clubs Leeds United (£13.2m), Leicester City (£8.1m) and Southampton (£7.5m) had the highest costs among current Championship teams.
The total combined outlay among Championship clubs was £61.3m, compared to £5.1m in League One where Derby County(£434,465) spent the most.
Wrexham, owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, led League Two spending with £347,027 paid to agents and intermediaries. Overall payments by current League Two clubs amounted to £2.4m.
Only Forest Green Rovers (£266,191) spent more than half of Wrexham’s outlay among rival fourth-tier clubs.