Liverpool Set to Benefit Most as Premier League Clubs Aim to Cut Down Costly Agent Fees

Liverpool are set to be the club that benefits most from proposed new restrictions on agent fees as Premier League teams group together to stop intermediaries, representatives and advisers from being paid twice for just one transfer transaction.

As things stands, agents are often getting paid for deals both by the players and clubs, with a report from The Times revealing that four out of every five Premier League transfers last season resulted in an agent being paid by player and club for the same deal.

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This is known as 'dual representation' and is thought to have become the 'norm'.

The report explains that clubs want agents to only be paid by players, ultimately aiming to reduce the vast power that intermediaries now have in modern football transfers.

Mino Raiola is a particularly high profile example, earning a mammoth sum of £41m for his role in Paul Pogba joining Manchester United from Juventus in 2016 because he was paid three times for independently representing the player and both clubs - a case of 'triple representation'.

Raiola has also been accused of trying to engineer Pogba's exit from Old Trafford to Barcelona for more vast financial gain.

Liverpool are set to most gain if new restrictions are passed because official FA figures released earlier this year revealed that the Reds had paid a Premier League-high £26.79m in agent fees alone for transfers completed in the 2017 summer window and 2018 January window.

Those windows saw captures of Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Virgil van Dijk.

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The Premier League as a whole spent £211m on agent fees in 541 transactions during that period in question, money that could be saved and spent elsewhere if dual and triple representation is brought under control and the responsibility to pay agents falls on players only.