Bristol City reduce agent fees for second straight year as Leeds United and Leicester spend big

Bristol City have reduced their spending on agent fees for a second successive year with the Robins paying intermediaries £896,854 over the last two transfer windows, one of the lowest amounts in the Championship.

Figures released by the FA have revealed City rank 19th in the division for such an outlay as their amount dwarfed by the relegated clubs from the Premier League with Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton all spending in excess of £7m each, £13m in the case of the former.

The Robins have steadily brought the number down over the last few seasons delivering a 8.8 per cent reduction from last season’s £983,987, which had been a 29 per cent drop from the 2021/22 campaign.

The FA’s numbers cover 23 transactions from February 1, 2023 to February 1, 2024, including the 10 players signed on permanent and loan deals, new contracts for Max O’Leary, George Tanner, Rob Atkinson, Cam Pring, Zak Vyner, Sam Bell and Seb Palmer-Houlden and the professional terms signed by academy talents Ephraim Yeboah, Elijah Morrison, Joe Duncan and Josh Campbell-Slowey.

The £61,340,676 total spent by the Championship’s 24 clubs is a huge rise on the £36.6m from last year, largely fuelled by the excesses of Leeds, Leicester and Southampton whose spending in this particular field represents 47 per cent of the total division.

Below them, Watford and Norwich City - who were top spenders last term - have once again each spent more than £4m, while West Brom, Hull and relegation-threatened Stoke City, who have signed 25 players over the course of this season, have topped £2m but then the numbers start to fall quite quickly.

The stark disparity in financial resources of those relegated from the Premier League and the rest of the league, especially those promoted from League One, as Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich are in the bottom half, is evident.

But what also stands out is how, with a few notable exceptions in over-performance against this specific investment (the Tractor Boys, Preston and even City) and under-performance (Stoke, Watford), in many cases the standings broadly run according to league position or area in the table.

Despite the significant rise from last year, the Championship still falls well below the £409,592,929 spent in the Premier League, with Chelsea's staggering £75,140,524 more than the second tier combined.