Premier League clubs have paid out more than £260m to football agents during 2018-19 - an increase of £49m on the previous 12 months, reports BBC Sport.

Liverpool were the highest spending club in the top flight, paying £43m to agents between 1 February 2018 and 31 January 2019.

Chelsea (£26m) and Manchester City (£24m) were the next biggest spenders.

Championship clubs spent more than £50m while Sunderland accounted for more than 50% of League One's £5.5m outlay.

Expenditure on agents in League Two remained just below £1m at £940,555 with Northampton paying out more than any other club in the division, spending £92,125.

Strugglers Macclesfield spent only £1,000 on agents, the lowest amount of any club across the top four divisions.

In the National League, Salford paid out £76,338 to agents - more than eight clubs in League One and 21 clubs in League Two.