Phil SumblerSwansea City spent just short of £5.2m in agent and intermediary fees between 1st February 2019 and 1st January 2020 – the second highest in the Championship and just behind Stoke City (£5.68m)
The fees give the stark reality of what relegation from the Premier League can do to a club’s finances and a big reason for why there are things such as parachute payments to try and soften the blow that falling from the richest league can be.
In comparison, Luton paid just £298k during the same period whilst Cardiff’s total was £3.46m despite them being a Premier League club at the time.
When you look at the club’s transfer dealings during that period then the sale of Dan James (Manchester United) and Oli McBurnie (Sheffield United) will play by far the largest part of this figure which also serves to highlight just how football is set up to benefit the players and agents first and the clubs second.
It is maybe bad timing that these reports are issued at a time when there is a widespread desire for wages in the game to receive a huge overhaul in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and figures such as these only increase that desire if clubs are to survive this period of games behind closed doors.
The Championship total was £49.3m when all added together compared to a mind boggling £263.4m in the Premier League with Champions elect Liverpool paying out £30.3m to top another league table albeit with a hugely reduced figure from the year before. Only three Premier League clubs (Norwich, Sheffield United and Burnley) spent less than the Swans.
