Aston Villa’s £5.4m spend on agents’ fees leads West Midlands
Villa spent more money on agents’ fees than any other club in the West Midlands during the last two transfer windows, an FA report has revealed.
The £5.4million paid out in 12 months up to January 31 was second only to Newcastle in the Championship and more than the £4.2million spent by Albion in the Premier League.
It included no fewer than 33 individual transactions as new owner Tony Xia sanctioned two significant squad overhauls, first under Roberto Di Matteo and then Steve Bruce, accounting for around a 10th of the total spend by clubs in the second tier.
Wolves’ spend on agents was barely a quarter of their rivals, coming in at £1.25million, with the vast majority of their 28 transactions taking place after Fosun’s takeover in July last year. Blues had the lowest spend of the region’s Championship clubs at £776,000.
Albion’s outlay was meanwhile the fourth lowest in the Premier League, with only Burnley, Hull and Middlesbrough paying out less. Manchester City were the top flight’s biggest spenders after splashing out £26.2million on agents’ fees during the period.
Chelsea had the second biggest outlay, at £25million, with the total Premier League spend topping £174.2million.
Walsall’s spend on agents’ fees was £20,986 – the fourth lowest in League One.
