Lincoln City spent less on agent fees between February 2025 and February 2026 than the previous year, as shown by figures released today.
City spent £209,684 between those two dates, while the previous period saw a spend of £293,605. While we spent approximately 28% less this year than in the previous period, the overall spending in the division went up by 85%, from £7,582,927 to £14,041,489.
To put that into context, between February 2024 and February 2025, our spend accounted for 3.8% of the division’s overall outlay, while in the most recent period, we only accounted for 1.4% of the division’s overall spend.
Luton Town spent more than £3m on agent fees, while Cardiff and Huddersfield completed the dubious ‘£1m and over club’. Huddersfield don’t get off that easily in this article, as they broke the £1m in payments barrier last season as well. Luton’s spend is shocking, as it only just falls short of the total spend across the whole division in 2020.
The total fees break down as follows.
- Luton Town – £3,334,500
- Cardiff City – £1,719,640
- Huddersfield Town – £1,531,425
- Plymouth Argyle – £886,038
- Wycombe Wanderers – £717,402
- Reading – £716,374
- Bolton Wanderers – £674,757
- Blackpool – £508,321
- Bradford City – £370,343
- Burton Albion – £361,082
- Port Vale – £354,528
- Barnsley – £340,010
- Stevenage – £294,612
- Wigan Athletic – £283,506
- Stockport County – £275,614
- Leyton Orient – £258,332
- Peterborough United – £253,068
- Rotherham United – £225,803
- Lincoln City – £209,684
- AFC Wimbledon – £179,918
- Mansfield Town – £165,457
- Doncaster Rovers – £158,005
- Northampton Town – £121,728
- Exeter City – £101,342
Information is also available on each transaction where an agent was used. City had 25 instances of agent usage during the period, breaking down as follows.
- Freddie Draper – Updated Contract
- Oisin Gallagher – Updated Contract
- Zane Okoro – New Registration
- Lewis Montsma – Updated Contract
- Gbolahan Okewoye – New Registration
- Charlie Parks – New Registration
- Sonny Bradley – New Registration
- Ryley Towler – Permanent Transfer In
- Adam Jackson – Updated Contract
- Thomas Bayliss – Updated Contract
- Francis Okoronkwo – Loan In
- Ivan Varfolomeev – Permanent Transfer In
- Oscar Thorn – Permanent Transfer In
- Adam Reach – New Registration
- Ben House – Updated Contract
- Zach Jeacock – Updated Contract
- Dom Jefferies – Updated Contract
- Josh Honohan – Permanent Transfer In
- Tendayi Darikwa – Updated Contract
- James Collins – Updated Contract
- Reeco Hackett – Updated Contract
- Alfie Lloyd – Loan In
- Deji Elerewe – Permanent Transfer In
- Adam Reach – Updated Contract
- Ryan One – Loan In
While there will be huge indignation at the money flowing out of the game, especially for those clubs spending a million or more, it is sadly a feature of modern football.
Premier League clubs paid a combined £460m to agents over the last year, representing a 13% rise compared to the previous 12 months. In the Championship, total payments increased by 10 per cent to £69.7m, with recently relegated clubs, boosted by parachute payments, spending the most. Ipswich Town led the way with £11.7m, followed by Southampton with £8.4m.
However, the largest increase across the EFL came in League One, where agent fees spending surged by 85%, another bad news story around finances on a day where losses have also hit the headlines.