Manchester City were the biggest spenders on agent fees over the past 12 months after the Premier League revealed clubs paid a staggering £70.6million to 'middle men' up to September 2009.

In an effort to provide more transparency in our game, Premier League officials have published the figures for all 20 clubs over the last two transfer windows.

Predictably, City top the list having spent over £12million to agents after bringing in the likes of Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz in the summer.

However, considering they spent the best part of £170million on players in that time the money spent on agents is not that excessive.

Indeed, City's chief financial officer, Graham Wallace, summed it up perfectly when he told The Daily Mail: "The level of player acquisition over the past year has been unprecedented as we have sought to rebuild our squad.

"The figure in question relates to payments made for 35 players, many of whom pre-date this time period.

"The fees represent an average of £360,000 per transaction, and the total amount falls well within our annual budget and operating plan as approved by our board."

Meanwhile, Chelsea are the next biggest spenders forking out over £9.5million to agents, while Liverpool and Tottenham are third and fourth having spent £6.7million and £6.1million respectively.

Somewhat alarmingly for some clubs as they seek top-flight success is how they can spend so much more than a club of Manchester United's stature - the Premier League champions.

United paid £1.5million to agents over the past 12 months, a fraction compared to West Ham (£3.5m) and Portsmouth (£3.1m), while Hull, Wigan, Sunderland, Bolton and Blackburn all splashed out more.

Premier League new boys Burnley spent the least of the 20 clubs, laying out just £468,000 in agent fees.

20 Premier League clubs - Agent fees'

1. Manchester City - £12,874,283
2. Chelsea - £9,562,223
3. Liverpool - £6,657,305
4. Tottenham Hotspur - £6,066,935
5. West Ham United - £5,527,548
6. Arsenal - £4,760,241
7. Wigan Athletic - £3,576,972
8. Portsmouth - £3,184,725
9. Bolton Wanderers - £3,166,611
10. Everton - £2,008,407
11. Sunderland - £2,007,040
12. Aston Villa - £1,708,374
13. Blackburn Rovers - £1,610,885
14. Hull City - £1,599,188
15. Manchester United - £1,517,393
16. Fulham - £1,469,258
17. Wolves - £1,235,703
18. Birmingham City - £974,982
19. Stoke City - £716,042
20. Burnley - £468,398

Total: £70,692,513 over 803 transactions