PREMIER LEAGUE clubs paid out a record £409m in agent fees this season – and Chelsea are at least top of one table.
The Stamford Bridge outfit’s second summer spending splurge since the Todd Boehly-led takeover saw Chelsea pay out an astonishing £75.1m to representatives.
Figures disclosed by the FA showed Chelsea paid out on a stunning 56 different players over the season including on the sales of Ruben Loftus Cheek and Christian Pulisic to Milan.
It saw the Blues’ agent spending rise from £43.2m last term to the new record figure, with Manchester City second on the payments list by handing over £60.6m.
That big money expenditure saw the Prem total up 28 per cent from last term’s previous record of £318.2m.
Manchester United, paying £34m, were third on the list, with Liverpool fourth on £31.5m.
Arsenal followed that by paying out £24.7m after their big-money outlays on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber.
Chelsea’s outlay represented the combined costs of their near £1billion transfer spree over the past two years.
Indeed, among the players whose agents were paid were Romelu Lukaku, now coming to the end of his second season on loan away from SW6, Havertz and defensive flop Kalidou Koulibaly.
With Mauricio Pochettino’s side ninth and 16 points adrift of the final automatic Champions League spot with eight games left many fans will wonder if the club is getting value for money.
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Prem new boys Luton were, unsurprisingly, bottom of the agent spend chart, paying out a fraction over £2m.
Fellow promoted clubs Sheffield United, who spent £5.1m, and Burnley, on £6.9m, filled the bottom three in both the expenditure and current actual table.