New figures reveals spend for Aston Villa and Wolves on agents' fees

The total of £25million between February 2024 and February 2025 was up from £21.1m on the previous 12-month period.

Only Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea spent more, with the latter having comfortably the top-flight’s biggest outlay of £60m, though that was down from £75m the year before.

Spending on agents’ fees across the Premier League as a whole actually remained static at £409m.

Wolves had the eighth lowest spend £13.5m, up just a fraction from their previous tally of £13.3m.

The figures are of particular interest from Villa’s perspective, with the club needing to comply with Uefa’s rules which restrict clubs to spending just 80 per cent of their total revenue on wages, transfer fees and agents’ fees.

Villa, competing in this season’s Champions League, are believed to have exceeded that threshold and are in discussions with the governing body over a financial settlement.

The club was forced to complete a flurry of sales to raise money quickly at the end of last season in order to avoid breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.

Midfielder Douglas Luiz went to Juventus for £42.5m, while Omari Kellyman was sold to Chelsea for £19m and Tim Iroegbunam joined Everton for £10m.

Forwards Moussa Diaby and Jhon Duran were both later sold to Saudi Arabia, the latter in a deal which could eventually be worth more than £70m.

Villa have continued to invest heavily, breaking the transfer record to sign Amadou Onana for £50m, while the January window saw high-profile loan deals agreed for Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford.

Boss Unai Emery also signed a contract which made him one of the highest paid managers in Europe during the 12-month period.

Elsewhere, Albion were in the top half of spenders in the Championship after a £2.4m outlay on agents’ fees, up from £2.1m a year previously. That was dwarfed, however, by Leeds United, whose £18m spend accounted for nearly a third of the entire Championship.

In League Two, Walsall’s spend on agents’ fees almost trebled to £146,000.