Source: Daily_Mail
Premier League clubs reduce spending on agents' fees by £3m - but figure still tops £67m
Chelsea paid more than £9million in agents' fees in a year despite signing only two players, according to figures revealed by the Premier League. [LNB]Small change: Chelsea spent £9.3m on agents - a drop in the ocean of owner Roman Abramovich's estimated personal fortune of £7.4billion[LNB]Blackpool spent just £45,000 but the total amount paid out by clubsin the year to September 30 was still a massive £67m. The figures willcause fresh concern among those who feel the sport is haemorrhaging itsprofits to agents.[LNB]Chelsea topped the list after spending more than £9m for the secondyear in a row but big-spending Manchester City halved their outlay. [LNB]Manchester United's relative lack of activity in the transfer marketwas reflected by their modest contribution of £2.3m, although it doesnot include Paul Stretford's cut of the Wayne Rooney's £250,00-a-weekdeal.[LNB]Chelsea's payments are all the more surprising because coach CarloAncelotti only signed Ramires at £18m from Benfica and paid Liverpool£6m for Yossi Benayoun. Nicolas Anelka and Michael Essien both securedlucrative new contracts in the summer, from which their representativeswill have received a cut.[LNB]Joe Cole's free transfer from Stamford Bridge to Anfield is one ofthe reasons behind Liverpool's total of £9m, with his agent pocketing ashare of his signing-on fee and £90,000-a-week four-year deal.[LNB]Liverpool also incurred fees connected with the decision to partcompany with Rafael Benitez and replace the Spaniard with Roy Hodgson,who subsequently signed Raul Meireles, Christian Poulsen and PaulKonchesky in addition to Cole. The figure includes earlier deals tosign Milan Jovanovic and Maxi Rodriguez.[LNB] Big spender: Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour (centre) spent almost £6m on agents' fees this season[LNB]Premier League newcomers Blackpool spent just £45,000 thanks to apolicy of making players foot the bill for most of their agents' fees. [LNB]Chief executive Karl Oyston said at the time: 'I don't think anydeal should be about the agent. It should be about the player, aboutgiving them a platform to perform on one of world's best stages. Agentsare sometimes denying their clients that chance.'[LNB]PREMIER LEAGUE TotalArsenal £3,660,199 Aston Villa £2,279,536.50 Birmingham City £1,518,529.09 Blackburn Rovers £1,623,232.92 Blackpool £45,000 Bolton Wanderers £3,549,316.72 Chelsea £9,293,751.48 Everton £3,599,040.51 Fulham £2,087,373.55 Liverpool £9,032,528.49 Manchester City £5,952,261.33 Manchester United £2,312,726 Newcastle United £2,417,776 Stoke City £2,196,968.50 Sunderland £4,421,990.72 Tottenham Hotspur £5,361,229.87 West Bromwich Albion £614,195.73 West Ham United £3,419,089.99 Wigan Athletic £2,461,500 Wolverhampton Wanderers £1,291,794 [LNB]Total £67,138,040.40[LNB] Premier League agents fees[LNB] David Cameron issues 2018 rallying call as Prince William and David Beckham join PM in bid to salvage World Cup dream Carragher reveals frustration as op rules defender out for three monthsWenger insists Arsenal won't buy in January despite mounting troubles[LNB] Explore more:People: Rafael Benitez, Michael Essien, Joe Cole, Roy Hodgson, Christian Poulsen, Maxi Rodriguez, Paul Stretford, Nicolas Anelka Places: Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle
