Agents fees announced

From the official site:

In line with the Football Association Agent's Regulations, Manchester City Football Club hereby disclose details of agents' fees paid over the past year as being £12,875,283.

The figures, being released by all Premier League clubs today, have been verified and reconciled by The Football Association, and include fees paid to agents for incoming as well as outgoing transfers, the renegotiation of existing player registrations as well as fees paid to agents during the stated period, but which relate to transactions predating it.

The amount paid covers the period 1 October 2008-30 September 2009 and the making public of the figures is a requirement of the Premier League, which all clubs have to adhere to.

The Premier League confirmed that the fees paid cover all of the following:

• Fees paid to agents by Clubs in respect of acquiring and/or renegotiating Player Registrations.
• Fees paid to agents by Clubs on behalf of players in respect of acquiring and/or renegotiating Player Registrations.
• Fees paid to agents during the defined period relating to previous transaction costs (i.e. Player Registrations prior to 1st October 2008) that have been amortised over the length of a Player Contract.
• Fees paid to agents by Clubs to facilitate the outward transfer of Player Registrations.
  

The figures relate to all permanent and loan signings, first contracts and re-negotiations/extension of existing contracts.

It is quite a staggering amount to be paid out, but not surprising considering the level of transfer fees that we have paid out this summer, the January transfer window and even back to the summer of 2008 (when Sven-Goran Eriksson arrived) as the club confirmed that payments included relate to a total of 35 transactions, some of which predated the past year.

The overall figures show that our total of £12,875,283 is 18% of the total amount of £70,692,513 paid out by Premier League clubs. No surprise then that we comfortably top the table, paying out around £3million more than Chelsea (in second place) and 50% more than Liverpool in third place:

Arsenal	£4,760,241
Aston Villa	£1,708,374
Birmingham City	£974,982
Blackburn Rovers	£1,610,885
Bolton Wanderers	£3,166,611
Burnley	£468,398
Chelsea	£9,562,223
Everton	£2,008,407
Fulham	£1,469,258
Hull City	£1,599,188
Liverpool	£6,657,305
Manchester City	£12,874,283
Manchester United	£1,517,393
Portsmouth	£3,184,725
Stoke City	£716,042
Sunderland	£2,007,040
Tottenham Hotspur	£6,066,935
Wigan Athletic	£5,527,548
West Ham United	£3,576,972
Wolverhampton Wanderers	£1,235,703
Total (across 803 transactions)	£70,692,513

The club have spoken of the past transfer window comprising what in effect was a number of transfer windows such was the opportunity to land the players we did, and of course bringing in the amount of players we have in such a short time was always going to affect the amount paid to agents as a result:

“As has previously been stated by our Chief Executive Garry Cook, the level of player acquisition over the past year has been unprecedented as we have sought to rebuild our playing squad.

Squad building at this level and within such a short time frame is unlikely to be repeated. The figure in question relates to payments made for 35 players, many of whom predate this time period. The fees represent an average of £360,000 per transaction, and the total amount falls well within our annual budget and operating plan as approved by our board.”

It may 'only' represent £360,000 per transaction, but that is a nice spin put on matters given the wide scope of business it represents. If you look at the individual transfers we have completed - namely Robinho, Adebayor, Lescott and particularly Tevez, we undoubtedly paid out some serious money to facilitate these moves, although there are no figures released that relate to individual transfers which is a pity as we could perhaps get a clearer, more rounded view of exactly what was paid out, and maybe more importantly, to whom.