Aston Villa, Wolves and West Brom have spent a combined total of over £25m on agent fees over the past year, as reported by journalist Martyn Ziegler.

How much have Aston Villa, Wolves and West Brom spent on agent fees?

Wolves are the biggest spenders on agents in the Midlands, having coughed up £12.6m to agents between February 2020 and February 2021.

Villa have also handed over a hefty sum of £8.9m during this period, whilst West Brom have paid out £4.2m. 

Does that directly correlate to transfer spending?

In a word - no.

According to Transfermarkt, Villa spent the most on transfer fees out of the three clubs (£88.3m), whereas West Brom spent the least (£37.9m).

Meanwhile, Wolves only spent £74.5m on transfers, despite coughing up the most in agent fees. 

How does that compare to the rest of the Premier League?

The overall spending across England's top division was £272.2m. This means that the average per club was £13.6m - a figure that Wolves, Villa and West Brom all fell below.

Chelsea spent the most on agents in the Premier League (£35.2m), followed by Manchester City (£30.2m) and Manchester United (£29.8m).

Why should we care about agent fees?

This eye-watering amount of money is essentially going out of the game. It is not being paid to players or coaches who can have a direct impact on what happens on a football pitch.

Instead, it is vast sums of money going to people behind the scenes who simply represent players and have their own separate agendas. 

Are agents becoming too powerful?

It does seem that way. Wolves have a strong relationship with Jorge Mendes and his agency GestiFute, which has allowed them to sign numerous Portuguese players including Ruben Neves, Pedro Neto and Nelson Semedo in recent times.

Whether that is fair is up for debate.

Then you have Mino Raiola. The outspoken Italian has never been one to hold his tongue, and has previously wound up clubs and supporters with his comments on his clients such as Paul Pogba.

Back in December, Raiola told Tuttosport via talkSPORT that Pogba's time at Manchester United was "over", before coming out the following week and stating that the French midfielder was unlikely to leave in January.

Remarks like these can easily cause disruption for clubs, and begs the question: why are they paying so much money to people who are often causing them unnecessary problems?