Premier League clubs increase spending on agents fees

LONDON (Reuters) – English Premier League clubs spent almost 130 million pounds ($195.65 million) on agents fees last year, an increase of 15 million pounds from the previous period, figures showed on Monday.

Liverpool topped the list, which was released on the league’s official website (www.premierleague.com), with 14.3 million pounds, ahead of Manchester United, whose spending almost doubled to 13.9 million pounds, and Manchester City (12.4 million pounds).

Chelsea and Arsenal each paid out around 11.9 million pounds, with the latter almost tripling their outlay, while promoted Watford spent the smallest amount at 1.6 million.

The exact total spent by the current 20 top flight clubs was 129.86 million pounds, compared to the second tier’s 26.1 million, 3.2 million in League One and 1 million pounds in League Two.

The figures, calculated for the period Oct. 1 2014 to Sept. 30 2015, included payments made by clubs on behalf of players.

(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Peter Rutherford)