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• Premier League clubs paid out £67m this year
• Figure is marginally down on 2009’s

Premier League clubs paid just over £67m to agents over the past 12 months, marginally down on the previous year, when the figure was £70.69m . In only the second year of the league’s publication of fees, all 20 clubs’ aggregate payments were listed in the total of £67,138,040.40. Twelve provided a number to the last penny.

Liverpool fans may wonder how the club could afford to spend more than £9m on agents, when they were so close to going to the wall over its inability to pay interest on £350m loans to Royal Bank of Scotland and Wells Fargo bank. That sum made them the second-highest payers in the Premier League, with only Chelsea’s £9.29m exceeding it. The sums detailed relate to payments for player transfers in and out of the clubs and also to payments for contract renegotiations.

Given that these payments are routinely made over the life of a player’s contract, there is a lag over the impact of monies due to agents. This might help explain why the fees payable to agents in 2010 declined only marginally from the year before, despite a dramatic drop in transfer fees paid.

During January this year and the close season £380m was paid by Premier League clubs in transfer fees. In 2009 the transfer-fee spend for the English top flight was £620m. This constituted a 38.7% year-on-year fall in the amount paid to other clubs. Yet the decline in the amounts agents were paid over the past 12 months was only 5%, or £3.5m. Most notable was the saving of nearly £7m for Manchester City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, in what the Eastlands club paid to agents over the year.

There was also an economy announced at West Ham United, who changed ownership this year, of more than £2m, and Arsenal and Wigan Athletic also paid more than £1m less to agents over the 12-month period.

Portsmouth, who were relegated last season, had paid more alone than all three promoted clubs combined, with Ian Holloway’s Blackpool spending only £45,000 on agents’ fees. But aAlthough these broad economies might have had an effect, other clubs’ fees rose significantly year on year. Liverpool’s were up £2.3m, Sunderland’s by £2.4m, Everton’s by almost £1.6m, Stoke City’s by £1.2m and Manchester United’s by almost £800,000.

Fulham, Aston Villa and Birmingham City between them accounted for another £1.7m extra paid to agents.

Premier LeagueLiverpoolChelseaMatt Scottguardian.co.uk

• Aquilani has struggled since his £20m move from Roma
• Hodgson can’t guarantee midfielder regular first-team football

Just over a year after signing for Liverpool as replacement for Xabi Alonso, Alberto Aquilani is set to be loaned out to a club back in his native Italy.

The 26-year-old, signed by former manager Rafael Benítez, was hampered by injuries and illness during his first year in England and has struggled to make an sort of impact at Anfield since his £20million arrival from Roma.

Aquilani was not included in Liverpool’s squad for last night’s Europa League play-off against Trabzonspor and discussions are under way over a possible move.

“At the moment we are considering possibly loaning him to an Italian club, but nothing is sure about that yet so I don’t have anything definite to report,” Roy Hodgson said following the 1-0 victory over the Turkish side.

“I didn’t want to use him (against Trabzonspor) just in case the loan goes through, because for Aquilani this year it’s very important that he plays regular football, every week, as the number one man on the teamsheet.

“I can’t promise him that here so if a loan move to Italy could help him in that respect it might be good for all parties.

“It would certainly be what he needs, it would certainly protect the value of the player and when he does return to Liverpool no doubt we will see the Aquilani that we signed before he came here injured last year.”

Aquilani had a history of injury problems when he joined Liverpool and it was more than two months into last season before he made his debut for the club. Hodgson has given no indication as to which Italian club he could join but he was linked with Juventus – from whom Liverpool have just signed midfielder Christian Poulsen – earlier in the year.

LiverpoolTransfer windowguardian.co.uk

• ‘A club like Liverpool deserves to win trophies’
• ‘We have the highest targets – to win everything’

The Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has signed a two-year extension to his contract, the club announced this morning. The Slovakia international had two years remaining on his deal but has now committed to Anfield until 2014.

Skrtel told the club’s website: “Before I came here a lot of people thought I wasn’t good enough to play for Liverpool but I think I have shown I am. I’m happy to try and carry on giving good performances and doing my best for the club.

“Signing a new contract gives me confidence and I will work hard in training every day to play as many games as possible. You can always improve. I know the good and bad parts of my game and I will keep working.”

The defender missed the end of last season with a broken foot but recovered in time to feature in Slovakia’s impressive World Cup campaign. He believes the mood at Liverpool has been transformed since the arrival of Roy Hodgson in July.

“Lots of things have changed at the club this year with new players, a new manager and new medical staff. The spirit is very good and we showed that against Arsenal with a great performance. We can build on that and carry it on.

“We have quality in the dressing room and I know we will do better this year. A club like Liverpool deserves to win trophies and I will help them do that, hopefully this season.

“Everyone plays football to win trophies. Playing for Liverpool is a big motivation for everyone and we will do everything we can to win the Premier League. We have the highest targets – to win everything.”

Liverpoolguardian.co.uk