Premier League clubs paid a staggering 174 million pounds (287 AUD) to agents between February 2016 to January 2017. The new figures released by the FA, show the vast amount of money leaving the beautiful game every year.
Manchester City out laid the most money to agents and intermediaries, a figure of 26.2 million (43 million AUD) pounds was paid by City. This was mainly down to the arrival of Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2016.
The Spaniard oversaw the signings of John Stones, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane, Claudio Bravo, Nolito and Ilkay Gündogan, who combined cost an eye-watering 170 million pounds (280 AUD).
Second was Chelsea who spent 25 million (41 million AUD) on agent fees. This was once again down to a new manager, Antonio Conte, and the signings he made. The arrival of Marcos Alonso, Michy Batshuayi and the re-signing of David Luiz all contributed to the fee.
Manchester United were third as they paid 19 million pounds (31 million AUD) on agent fees. A large proportion of this amount was probably given to Mino Raiola, who is Paul Pogba’s agent. Raiola was reported in the British press of making close to 20 million pounds off the Pogba deal.
How much did your team pay on agents?
Arsenal £7,415,321
Bournemouth £10,156,567
Burnley £2,567,268
Chelsea £25,051,431
Crystal Palace £5,998,074
Everton £5,081,134
Hull City £1,916,525
Leicester City £5,359,409
Liverpool £13,792,355
Manchester City £26,286,988
Manchester United £19,000,973
Middlesbrough £2,478,379
Southampton £6,321,036
Stoke City £5,442,113
Sunderland £5,833,611
Swansea City £4,330,533
Tottenham Hotspur £7,167,773
Watford £6,292,751
West Brom £4,248,605
West Ham £9,486,390
I, like many other fans, understand that agents and fees are just a part of modern football we have to accept. However, seeing these agent’s fees and how much money leaves football does disappoint me.
What concerns me most is the fact this money never finds its way into grassroots football, it just fills the pockets of all ready rich agents.
The cost of supporting football clubs is a topic frequently discussed, I will concede that clubs and the Premier League have made steps in the right direction to decrease the costs.
However, with the large amounts of sums floating around football, I think more should be done.
It’s important to reward the passionate fans who supported their team every week, the last thing football needs and especially the Premier League needs is to create a divide between fan and club.
buddy
Guest
Gary Neville came in through the academy at ManU and was a one club player so probably didn't need an agent. however, I'd be willing to bet that he could have earned quite a bit more in his career if he had employed one. It isn't much different to having a trade union represent workers really. Plenty of occasions when i have had talks with employees and some cannot utter a coherent sentence to support their position and all too often they get walked over, ignored or end up working for considerably less than what they are worth. Player wages are pretty much confidential but I imagine that players from the "class of 92" were not all earning the same figures at United by any stretch.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
The player is paying the agent, not the club. If you think of it that way you can sleep better at night.
Elliot Howey
Roar Guru
Nothing wrong with players having agents , would imagine almost every player has one now . Just highlighting the amount of money being paid by clubs to agents and clubs having to pay a significant fee to an agent to sign a player
RBBAnonymous
Guest
What is so bad about a player deciding to choose an agent? Sure a player can choose a lawyer. A lot choose agents, that's the players choice. He knows a percentage of the money he earns will go to the agent. Perhaps he wouldn't be earning as much if he didn't employ the agent in the first place. This isn't money going out of football, this is money going out of the players wages, a service that he is happy to pay for.
Post_hoc
Guest
Disagree somewhat looking at the US, what you say might be fine for NFL, and such but in Baseball great for an MLB player but move into the minor leagues and the players are little more than serfs. The amount a MiLB earns is pitiful and not enough to live off.
Elliot Howey
Roar Guru
Just thought this would be of interest , quotes from Garry Neville , played for Manchester United for 19 years , never had an agent. Gary Neville "If United want you they will find you.We also have players who can't think for themselves,negotiate,set up a bank account, book a flight etc. Oh and took 200m out the game last year for asking for a contract! That money may be better spent on player education so they can negotiate ,Or on grass roots or fan transport or other good causes... It's the maddest thing! Working 18 years to be good then let someone take a large % . Get a good lawyer who will negotiate on a fixed fee.."
Chris
Guest
The article is about money to sleazy agents.
Chris
Guest
Good points about Leeds and Portsmouth. Do these clubs forgo their youth academies etc in the years that a rich benefactor hangs around? Do they just pay lip service to the foundations of a club while the money rolls at the high level? It will be interesting to see if the model that the Man City owners have bought in sustains the club when the big money runs out.
Buddy
Guest
Yes, that was the first thing that I thought of........player agents have been around negotiating contracts and transfers since at least the 60's. all the sums quoted represent is a proportion of fees for players and managers. Undoubtedly there are good and bad agents but is a 17-18 year old up and coming player really likely to be able to sit down and negotiate a contract with a club? What is really obscene is the disparity between professional sports stars and the general working person and then there is the irony of how it is all funded. Who buys the season ticket, who buys all the merchandise, who buys the sponsors products, and probably most importantly, who buys the tv packages as that is where all the money is coming from. The
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Agents have been around for a long time, much longer than 20 years. If a player wishes to hire an agent to act on his behalf when negotiating a contract then I can't see a problem in that.
Elliot Howey
Roar Guru
I agree that transfer's and been able to move clubs is important , however agents haven't always been in football . 20 years ago , no football players had agents and transfer,contracts still got done. Players are essential in football , agents are not .
sep
Guest
Standard sour grapes article from Aussies who were brainwashed from a very early age into believing they are the 'greatest in the world'. Nobody here would complain if there was a great young local talent playing for an A-League club and a European club would be paying a 100 million dollars to buy him.
FootOverHand
Guest
Clubs may agree to a transfer, but it is still up to the player to agree to it or not, there have been many cases of players refusing a transfer, or requesting one. The trouble it creates is like what happened to Milligan when Middleborough came calling and Ange stopped the transfer. I don't see it as abhorrent as you do, as it's similar to doing work for casual agencies in any work, it's still trading humans as commodities and I would say they have less say in conditions and remunerations than footballers.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
I totally disagree with this article. 1. Transfer system creates an economy in the football world 2. Small clubs can use this to build their clubs 3. Players use agents to negotiate on their behalf to increase their wages 4, Agents earn a fraction of the amounts compared to footballers 5. Transfer news creates interest for fans and the media alike 6. Agents are an easy target in this article when you could also write about the obscene amounts players earn. 7. Players who earn vast sums should not be portrayed as slaves of a system 8. Transfers allow easy player movements every 6 months in specified transfer windows. So in essence you are only tied to your employer for 6 months at a time. 9. If you are a player sign 1 year contracts only. 10. If clubs or players are unhappy they wouldn't participate in transfers and we would only deal in non contracted players (free agents). So we have willing participants on both sides. 11. Abuse of the transfer system can occur on all sides, mostly the offenders are the clubs themselves, but players and agents are also offenders. Its a two way street.
Elliot Howey
Roar Guru
Really good point mate about clubs relying on billionaire owners. if you look at former Premier League clubs like Leeds and especially Portsmouth , who have over spent on players ,wages and agent fee's . Once the owner decides he has had enough they go bankrupt or even worse fold as a club
Nemesis
Guest
True enough about the self-interest that will be opposed to the abolition of Transfer System as we know it. But, if FIFPro has launched this action it means the most important & powerful people involved in this issue - i.e. The Players - want an end to the current system. Even though this adage was designed to bring power to workers who are powerless, it still rings true for some of the wealthiest athletes on the planet: "The Workers United Will Never Be Defeated".
Elliot Howey
Roar Guru
The points you make ,make a lot of sense , and lets hope there is change. However the fact agents and groups involved in football can make so much money ,probably means there will be a lot of resistance from intermediaries in the footballing world , who currently make millions .
Nemesis
Guest
Totally agree. I find the whole football transfer system to be abhorrent. Buying & selling employees like they're pieces of furniture. FIFPro, the organisation that represents all the world’s professional footballers (over 65,000 men and women), has a legal action filed with the European Commission, alleging that “the global transfer market system governed by FIFA’s regulations [is] anti-competitive, unjustified and illegal”. Let's hope this action succeeds & the whole player transfer system is abolished. I've written my opinion piece on how I would like to structure & finance the movement of players around the world. http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/03/09/football-transfer-fees-become-ridiculous-need-go/
BrainsTrust
Guest
The irony is the number one reason so many sport stars end up broke is the agents influence them into dodgy investments. The number two reason would be overspending on rubbish including high performance cars. Its amazing when you see on the million dollar La when these idiot agents advise them to avoid spending on real estate, sorry but real estate its one thing you can splash the cash on and still make money. However on the topic of the article whats the difference between spending the money on a player or the agent it will dissapear into a black hole. The best way to run a sport is not to pay the players and therefore agents a high percentage of the money. This is why the US sports are profitable and stable , no relegation and salary caps.EPL is relying on big spending billionaires to prop up a lot of the clubs despite the high revenue. If you look at the US they don't fund grassroots from the top level ,College funds itself mainly from college American football and a bit from basketball revenue. High school would be reliant on the tax payer. If you look at Great Britain in the Olympics they spent the lottery money on the Olympic sports, and instant success they are now one of the best at the Olympics. The one sport that you can't just throw money and produce top level players is football. The spending on football academies in Britain would be much more than their entire Olympic effort and they have little to show for it.