Liverpool spent £43.8m on agents’ fees between February 2018 and the end of January 2019 – around £17m more than any other Premier League club. Top-flight clubs paid a record £260.6m in fees during that period, smashing the 2017-18 total of £211m, which itself was a record.

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Chelsea paid the second-highest amount to agents, spending £26.8m, ahead of Manchester City on £24.1m and Manchester United on £20.8m. The fact Tottenham spent more than £11m on fees, despite not making a major signing, may also raise some eyebrows.

However, the Football Association’s figures published every year do not amount to the total agents’ fees agreed on the deals done in those transfer windows. As most of the fees are paid in instalments, the figures add up to the actual money paid by the clubs during the year.

That explains why Liverpool’s agents’ fees have nearly doubled – even though the £173m they spent on Alisson, Naby Keïta, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri in the 2018-19 season was only £18m more than the money paid for Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andrew Robertson in the 2017-18 campaign. Cardiff paid the lowest amount in fees (£2.8m).

Quick guide Premier League intermediary fees Show Hide 1 Feb 2018 to 31 Jan 2019 (change from 2017-18 figures) Liverpool £43,795,863 (+£17,002,360)

Chelsea £26,850,552 (+£1,706,766)

Manchester City £24,122,753 (+£647,444)

Manchester United £20,759,350 (+£2,757,157)

Everton £19,116,370 (+£7,059,858)

West Ham £14,414,845 (+£6,027,151)

Leicester £12,720,618 (+£2,802,088)

Arsenal £11,181,730 (+£621,041)

Tottenham £11,141,255 (+£3,967,588)

Watford £10,894,179 (-£2,496,426)

Bournemouth £10,295,433 (+£2,561,445)

Newcastle £8,868,027 (+£1,458,267)

Fulham £8,234,360 (N/A – promoted in 2018)

Crystal Palace £6,976,425 (+£802,803)

Brighton £6,859,429 (+£2,444,104)

Wolves £6,479,714 (N/A – promoted in 2018)

Southampton £6,151,107 (-£145,697)

Huddersfield £5,023,807 (+£2,557,992)

Burnley £3,975,928 (+£676,011)

Cardiff £2,802,375 (N/A – promoted in 2018)

The FA does not publish the individual fees paid to each agent on a specific deal. However, the latest figures are sure to increase the pressure for something to be done.

The issue will be back on the agenda during Friday’s Premier League shareholders meeting in London, with clubs and the FA wanting to introduce rules to stop agents being paid by both the club and the player in a single transfer.

Fifa is also looking at changing its rules so only a player can pay the agent, while limiting the percentage of the contract the player then has to share with a representative. It is likely to be capped at around 5%.

Meanwhile, Tottenham have broken the world record for the biggest profit made by a football club, during the 2017-18 financial year. Spurs’ accounts, lodged at Companies House, showed the club made £113m after tax last season – beating Liverpool’s £106m.

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The figures also show the club has a bank loan of more than half a billion pounds to cover the cost of its new stadium and that its wage bill rose 16% to £147.6m.

That figure, however, is less than half that of Manchester United’s £296m and well behind Arsenal’s £223m. Everton are close to overtaking Spurs as the sixth-highest payers in the Premier League after their wage bill increased by 40% to £145.5m.