FA figures show how much area’s clubs paid agents

QPR have defended paying more than £1m to agents between October and February of this season – the highest figure in the Championship.

Figures released by the Football Association, under Fifa rules, showed Rangers forked out £1,002,232 to players’ intermediaries during that four-month period.

The next-highest amount paid out in that division was £740,789, by Hull City.

Chelsea, meanwhile, paid just over £2.2m in that period, far less than the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham.

That included fees paid to the representatives of Marco Amelia, Ramires, Tammy Abraham, Alex Davey, Jake Clarke-Salter, Ramires, Matt Miazga and Alexandre Pato.

Fulham and Brentford were roughly mid-table in the Championship for agents’ fees, paying £316,655 and £221,013 respectively.

FA documents revealed that some of QPR’s payments were to the agents of Michael Doughty, Grant Hall, Joshua Wallen, Conor Washington, Matt Ingram and Nasser El Khayati.

But Rangers’ director of football Les Ferdinand insisted a big chunk of his club’s figure included installments paid as part of transfers agreed while they were in the Premier League.

He told QPR’s website: “The amount we paid may surprise our supporters who have seen us change our approach to transfers in recent months. But I ask those fans not to be swayed by the headline figures.

“It is important everyone understands that historical transfers are responsible for a large proportion of our current payments.

“In the past, we have paid agents over a four-year period if the player we signed was given a four-year contract. And in some instances, that remained the case even if the player left.

“This means we are still paying agents now for players we signed when we were in the Premier League, and the figures released today reflect that.

“I would like to add we no longer operate in this way.”