Chelsea top list as capital's big clubs pay £27m in agents' fees

Big spenders: Yuri Zhirkov was one of the players Chelsea brought in over the summer
David Yuill11 April 2012

London's top-flight clubs paid out more than £27million to agents, with Chelsea being the biggest of the capital's spenders.

Only Manchester City, backed by their billionaire Abu Dhabi owners, spent more than the Blues in the year leading up to September 2009 after all Premier League clubs released their figures last night.

Four of the country's top six 'big-spenders' are in London, with only Fulham splashing out less than £4m after Roy Hodgson paid £1.47m.

Roman Abramovich's Chelsea paid £9.56m to secure the services of Yuri Zhirkov, Daniel Sturridge and Ross Turnbull among others.

Harry Redknapp spent £6m as he rebuilt his Tottenham side, bringing in Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch, Sebastien Bassong, Wilson Palacios, Kyle Walker and Kyle Naughton.

Gianfranco Zola's West Ham outspent Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, having laid £5.52m in agents' fees over the summer. His signings included Alessandro Diamanti, Guillermo Franco, Radoslav Kovac, Herita Illunga, Manuel Da Costa and Luis Jimenez.

Arsenal spent just £4.76m to complete the top six with Man City (£12.87m) and Liverpool (£6.66m).

Wenger used agents to secure the signings of Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin and Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen.

Premier League champions Manchester United spent just £1.5m, while newly-promoted Burnley received change from £470,000 as the lowest spenders.

A Football Association spokesperson said: "We are pleased that, through these new requirements, clubs are bringing greater transparency to the domestic transfer market."

What they paid

(1) Man City £12,874,283
(2) Chelsea £9,562,223
(4)Tottenham £6,066,935
(5) West Ham £5,527,548
(6) Arsenal £4,760,241
(16) Fulham £1,469,258

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