Aston Villa’s stunning £25m agent spend compared to Premier League rivals - with intriguing Arsenal finding

Aston Villa are in the Premier League’s top four for the most money spent on agent fees, according to new and staggering figures published by the Football Association.

Covering the period of February 2nd 2024 to February 3rd 2025, Villa laid out a whopping £25 million, lining the pockets of agents all over the world. The Villans needed to bolster their squad ahead of their first campaign in the Champions League for over four decades and they did so with the help of many player representatives.

Unai Emery gave the green light for many important transfers in the two most recent windows, including the £50 million signing of Amadou Onana from Everton, the £37.5 million acquisition of Ian Maatsen from Chelsea and the £22 million capture of Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund. There were then of course the major loan signings of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio from Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain.

Given the significant nature of many of those deals, agents unsurprisingly raked in huge earnings, so much so that Villa spent more on agent fees than the current Premier League top three. Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest were all more conservative in their outgoings to agents.

Which Premier League clubs spent the most on agent fees?

In total, English top-tier clubs parted ways with over £409 million in agent fees, with some teams spending far more than others.

Chelsea lead the table for the most, with in excess of £60 million paid. The Blues’ approach to sign seven promising youngsters including Mike Penders, Aaron Anselmino and Renato Veiga won’t have helped their case as the players were in high demand and agents would have demanded significant signing-on fees. There were also the major signings of Portuguese superstars Pedro Neto and Joao Felix.

Manchester City weren’t far behind in second, with a total spend of over £52 million. Many of that would’ve been laid out in January as the Cityzens completed the signings of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. Savinho, meanwhile, was brought in during the summer.

Manchester United come in at third despite their season being a huge failure. The Red Devils are currently 14th in the Premier League with just 38 points from 32 games, yet they managed an outlay of over £33 million to agents. The biggest signings this season have been Lenny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu.

Villa, as mentioned previously, handed agents over £25 million. It’s a shock to see the Villans higher than the likes of Newcastle United, Arsenal and Liverpool, but it’s understandable given they have made so many marquee signings.

Without further ado, here’s how the table looks in full.

1. Chelsea: £60,384,449
2. Manchester City: £52,126,339
3. Manchester United: £33,022,197
4. Aston Villa: £25,077,873
5. Newcastle United: £24,366,737
6. Arsenal: £22,791,917
7. Liverpool: £20,835,652
8. West Ham United: £19,019,377
9. Tottenham Hotspur: £18,429,639
10. Brighton & Hove Albion: £16,553,102
11. AFC Bournemouth: £16,425,116
12. Brentford: £14,762,657
13. Wolverhampton Wanderers: £13,500,560
14. Nottingham Forest: £12,991,664
15. Fulham: £12,751,674
16. Crystal Palace: £11,952,031
17. Leicester City: £9,824,219
18. Everton: £9,156,995
19. Southampton: £8,900,718
20. Ipswich Town: £6,264,471

Why are agent fees paid out?

There are a number of reasons why clubs must pay agents, the most regular of which is when a transfer is completed. Just as players receive tidy signing-on fees, agents always negotiate a bonus for their involvement in the deal.

Then there are bonuses when new contracts are signed by players already at clubs. Erling Haaland’s historic new deal worth around £525,000, for instance, will have earned his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, a pretty penny. Further payments can also be paid out in instalments when various clauses are activated.