Chelsea top Premier League table for agent fees after spending £75m in 2023-24 season

Chelsea spent a staggering £75.1million on agent’s fees during the 2023/24 campaign, which is likely the highest-ever paid by a Premier League club in a single season.

Manchester City shelled out £60.6m, having topped the charts last year with a £51.5m outlay.

Manchester United were the next highest at £34m, followed by Liverpool's £31.5m and Arsenal's £24.7m.

Chelsea spent more on agents in a year than six Premier League clubs — Brentford, Fulham, Palace, Sheffield United, Everton, Luton — spent on transfers. They also spent more than every Championship club paid agents across the season.

Chelsea have spent a staggering amount across the previous two transfer windows, including £115million on Moises Caicedo from Brighton amid pressure from Liverpool.

Chelsea similarly outbid Jurgen Klopp’s side to sign former Southampton youngster Romeo Lavia for £58m.

Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson and Robert Sanchez also joined in another hectic summer of transfer activity.

Chelsea spent an estimated £422m on 14 players last summer but did not sign any players during the January transfer window.

Over £1billion has been spent across the first four transfer windows since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took control of the club, while also selling over £400m worth of players in that time.

There remain concerns about whether Chelsea will adhere to the Premier League’s current Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules before this summer's June 30 accounting deadline.

Chelsea have denied claims they must sell over £100m worth of players to stay before July, but are open to selling homegrown stars Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah, Ian Maatsen and Armando Broja, who would represent ‘pure profit’ on the club’s account.

Premier League clubs have agreed to introduce new financial controls in time for the 2025-2026 season. New “squad cost controls” will set an 85 per cent limit on how much annual revenue can be spent on player costs, including transfer fees, wages and agents’ fees.

But PSR rules, which monitor finances over three years, will continue to operate next season to allow clubs to adapt their business models to comply with the new demands.