Manchester City pay £20m to agents in two years

City, top last year with £9.7m paid to agents, were again the biggest spenders

Rodwell was signed by Manchester City for £12m last summer (Getty Images)

The age of austerity is yet to reach the agents who service the Premier League. This year its 20 current clubs handed over £77m to the Mr Ten Per Cents, a £5m rise on the 2011 expenditure.

These are payments made by clubs to agents on behalf of players, usually in connection with transfers and contract renegotiations. They are paid by the club primarily because players cannot offset agents' fees against tax. They do not include other fees paid to agents by players, such as commission for commercial deals.

Manchester City, top last year with £9.7m paid to agents, were again the biggest spenders with a £10.5m outlay despite (relatively) moderate additions such as Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell. Southampton, whose chairman, Nicola Cortese is noted for driving a hard bargain, spent the least, £646,106, despite investing more than £20m in the August transfer window.

Liverpool followed last season's £7m spending with a further £8m. Not much sign there of the Fenway Sports Group curbing costs. QPR, who have spent heavily in the transfer market to no great effect on the pitch, paid agents £6.8m.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur also spent more than £5m, but 10 clubs, half the league, were able to keep payments to agents below £3m.

Percentage calls: Payments by clubs

Manchester City £10,537,982

Liverpool £8,600,444

QPR £6,818,688

Tottenham £6,595,905

Chelsea £6,490,382

Arsenal £5,580,873

West Ham United £4,436,992

Man United £3,681,580

Newcastle United £3,485,503

Everton £3,092,891

Aston Villa £2,730,539

Fulham £2,581,208

Sunderland £2,173,762

Reading £2,167,833

Wigan Athletic £1,974,305

Stoke City £1,717,266

WBA £1,341,301

Norwich City £1,248,725

Swansea City £1,100,845

Southampton £646,106

Total: £77,003,130