Premier League clubs have paid out more than £260m to football agents during 2018-19 – an increase of £49m on the previous 12 months.
Liverpool were the highest spending club in the top flight, paying £43m to agents between 1 February 2018 and 31 January 2019.
Chelsea (£26m) and Manchester City (£24m) were the next biggest spenders.
Championship clubs spent more than £50m while Sunderland accounted for more than 50% of League One’s £5.5m outlay.
Fees to agents went up despite spending on transfers falling by more than £500m when compared with the previous season.
Liverpool spent £27m on agents in 2017-18 to conclude deals for players including Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, and their 2018-19 expenditure covers a period in which they have invested heavily to compete for the Premier League title.
Brazil midfielder Fabinho (£39m) arrived from Monaco, while his international team-mate Alisson cost a then world record £66.8m fee for a goalkeeper after being signed from Roma.
The Reds also spent around £50m on Naby Keita, and Switzerland midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri joined from Stoke for a fee of £13m.
Premier League spending 2018-19
Current position Team Estimated transfer spending 2018-19* Agents spending 1 Feb 2018 – 31 Jan 2019
1 Man City £69.38m £24,122,753
2 Liverpool £163.98m £43,795,863
3 Tottenham £0 £11,141,255
4 Arsenal £73.35m £11,181,730
5 Chelsea £189m £26,850,552
6 Man Utd £74.43m £20,759,350
7 Wolves £101.03m £6,479,714
8 Watford £27.09m £10,894,179
9 Leicester £103.14m £12,720,618
10 Everton £89.82m £19,116,370
11 West Ham £94.82m £14,414,845
12 Bournemouth £80.19m £10,295,433
13 Crystal Palace £10.67m £6,976,425
14 Newcastle £53.78m £8,868,027
15 Brighton £77.63m £6,859,429
16 Southampton £56.03m £6,151,107
17 Burnley £29.7m £3,975,928
18 Cardiff £46.08m £2,802,375
19 Fulham £100.8m £8,234,360
20 Huddersfield £45.63m £5,023,807
Championship clubs paid out a combined £50m, around £8m more than a year ago.
Former Premier League clubs Stoke, Swansea and West Brom – who were all relegated in 2017-18 – contributed 35% of the divisional total.
A question of finance
Overall, English football spent around £318m on agents, which represents a £60m increase from one year ago. But spending on transfers was significantly down.
Across the summer 2018 and January 2019 transfer windows combined, Premier League clubs spent an estimated £1.4bn. That figure is the second highest for an entire season following a record spend of £1.9bn in 2017-18.