Preston paid £1.25m in agent fees last year

The FA this week released figures of what all clubs in the Premier League, EFL and National League had paid to football’s middle men in transfers and contract negotiations.

These figures cover the period from February 1, 2019, to January 31 this year.

PNE paid out £1.25m in agents fees, the 10th lowest in the Championship.

Incoming deals during that period included the signings of Patrick Bauer, David Nugent, Tom Bayliss and Scott Sinclair.

There were new contracts too for Tom Barkhuizen and Billy Bodin between the dates covered by the FA’s figures.

Stoke were the highest payers to agents in the Championship, shelling out £5.86m. Swansea were not far behind, paying out nearly £5.2m.

Fulham and Leeds both went above the £4m mark, with Cardiff and Brentford paying £3.4m and £3.3m respectively.

The clubs who paid less to agents than North End did were Barnsley, Blackburn, Charlton, Hull, Luton, Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Reading and Wigan.

Luton were the lowest spenders, paying out £298,140.

More than £49m was paid out by Championship clubs, that figure £263m in the Premier League.

Liverpool were the big spenders in terms of agent fees, their payments more than £30m.

Bolton Wanderers were the one club not to pay any agent fees and had transfer restrictions placed on them.

All National League clubs paid agents, including AFC Fylde – £9,550.