Kevin Phillips: West Brom low spend on agent fees is a financial positive
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips has praised West Brom for ranking bottom of the Premier League for agent fees spent between February 2020 to the end of January 2021.
As reported by talkSPORT, Albion spent a league-low of £4.2million on agent fees. In comparison, Chelsea were the biggest spenders at £35.2million and fellow promoted sides Leeds and Fulham spent £7million and £9.3million respectively.
Phillips is not surprised by West Brom’s low spent on agent fees due to the limited business they did last summer.
He’s pointed out striker Karlan Grant as potentially being the player to demand the biggest agent fee due to the nature of his arrival.
Speaking exclusively to West Brom News, Phillips said: “From the financial point of view, it’s good for the club considering they look like they’re probably going to go down.
“They’ve saved money there but when you look at the transfers, there wasn’t anything huge.
“Karlan Grant was £15million plus his wages on a six-year deal – they would have had to pay a few quid out there because it was a last-minute thing.
“But it’s no surprise really. When you actually analyse what signings came in, it’s not a surprise.
“From the club’s point of view, financially and going into next season, that’s a positive.”
According to talkSPORT, West Brom spent £22.3million on new players in the summer transfer window and made just £990,000 in player sales.
Albion signed Grady Diangana for a club-record fee from West Ham, on top of the deal for Grant.
Telegraph journalist John Percy reported that the deal for Diangana was worth up to £18million but if the Baggies spend just over £22million, there’s a chance payments were staggered as they were with Grant.
In other West Brom news, Guochuan Lai has taken a major stride towards selling the club with an exclusivity agreement reached.
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