• Premier League

Premier League clubs spent £96m on agent fees

Jose Mourinho's arrival back at Chelsea will have aided the club's hike in paying agent fees © PA Photos

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Premier League clubs paid £96 million to agents in fees in the last year, with Chelsea's outlay more than doubling to over £13m.

Figures released by the Premier League show clubs paid £19m more to players' representatives than in the previous 12 months.

Chelsea spent a total £13,721,721 between October 1 2012 and September 30 2013, as opposed to £6,490,382 a year earlier.

The return of manager Jose Mourinho will have contributed to Chelsea's increase in outlay, with the Portuguese boss bringing in a raft of new signings. Captures like Cameroon star Samuel Eto'o and Brazilian playmaker Willian are bound to have had an effect on such a large hike.

Manchester City had topped the agents spending charts for the previous two years, and now sit second in the big-spenders list when it comes to paying agents.

City shelled out £11,179,817, to account for the arrival of new manager Manuel Pellegrini and another set of expensive summer captures. Their spending has increased from £10,537,982 the year before.

Of the total of around £96m spent by Premier League clubs on agents in the 12-month period just elapsed, Liverpool contributed £9,400,973.

Despite bringing in David Moyes as manager and signing the likes of Marouane Fellaini from Everton, Manchester United sit at the low end of the spending. The Old Trafford club only forked out a comparatively modest £4,317,690, though that does incorporate a rise of nearly £700,000.

Crystal Palace are bottom of the payment to agents ranking - hardly surprising given their promotion from the Championship in the summer.

Newcastle was another club to see a big increase on expenditure to agents, handling transfers and other dealings with players. The Tyneside club spent £7,294,018 in the last 12 months - more than doubling from £3,485,503 in the period prior to that.

Manager Alan Pardew was busy in the transfer market in January and across the summer, while Joe Kinnear also returned to the north-east club as director of football.

Arsenal have shown minimal change between the two years, spending roughly £5.5m in both time periods.

Tottenham spent more than £3m extra on paying agents this year than last, with their bill totalling £9,787,676 - an increase from £6,595,905.

Spurs used the cash from the world-record transfer fee sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid to rejuvenate their squad and offset the loss of the Wales forward. Arrivals like Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen will account for some of that increase, as manager Andre Villas-Boas bolstered the squad considerably.

Southampton's outlay jumped from £646,106 to £2,184,412, which would take in the change of manager from Nigel Adkins to Mauricio Pochettino and the players the new boss has brought in.

Sunderland's spending jumped from £2,173,762 to £4,640,227, accounting for the raft of signings Paolo Di Canio made in his abortive spell on Wearside.

The Premier League agreed in June 2008 that every club would publish the total amount paid to agents once a year. The figures also include any payments made by clubs to agents on behalf of their players.

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