Norwich City shell out £3.2m in agent fees in a record splurge for English football

City's spending was the fourth biggest in the Championship and 10 times more than rivals Ipswich Town for the period from February 2 2016 to January 31 2017.

That period spanned the last close season transfer window, following the Canaries' relegation from the Premier League, and the most recent January transfer trading - which saw the arrivals of Yanic Wildschut and Mitchell Dijks on loan and the exits of Robbie Brady, Martin Olsson and Sergi Canos.

The arrivals of Alex Pritchard and Nelson Oliveira were the headline deals in the previous summer window.

City's fellow relegated rivals from the top flight, Newcastle United and Aston Villa, head the table of Championship expenditure on payments by clubs to agents - or intermediaries as they are officially known – which now have to be published by national associations under Fifa rules governing transfers. The amounts include payments made by clubs on behalf of players.

Newcastle spent £10,449,578 in the same 12-month period, while Villa spent £5,421,662. Nottingham Forest were surprisingly third in the Championship table (£3,539,912), followed by Norwich.

Burton Albion spent the smallest amount on agents' fees (£163,331) with Ipswich's total outlay £303,978 - the fourth lowest in the division.

The total outlay by Championship clubs on agents' fees for the latest accounting period was £42,429,498, a 62pc increase compared to £26,124,044 in the last full-year results produced in 2014/15.

But that figure was dwarfed by the Premier League which spent £174,227,243 in the same current period, led by Manchester City (£26,286,988).

The amount paid by all English clubs to agents has risen by 38pc - up from £160m to £220m.

By way of comparison, City spent £1,183,890 in a record 2016 January transfer window spend that saw the arrivals of Timm Klose and Steven Naismith.