Norwich City paid £2,651,151 in agents’ fees for the past two transfer windows, according to new official figures published by the FA.

City’s spending was the sixth biggest in the Championship in a list headed by relegated Premier League trio Stoke City, Swansea City and West Brom, for the period from February 1 2018 to January 31 2019.

That spanned two transfer windows and included the arrivals of Emi Buendia and Philip Heise, plus the free transfer signings of Teemu Pukki and Tim Krul, along with the exits of Russell Martin and Remi Matthews.

City’s figure also includes liabilities for payments to agents connected to deals prior to this period. By way of comparison, Norwich spent £2,212,410 on agents’ fees in the previous 12 month period.

East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town spent £790,210 for the 12 months to January 31 2019.

The total outlay by Championship clubs on agents’ fees for the latest accounting period was £50,481,293 - up from £42,183,048 in the previous 12-month period. Stoke headed the Championship table of expenditure on payments 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.

The Potters spent £7,229,515 in the same 12-month period, with Swansea next on £5,551,168. Paul Warne’s Rotherham United spent the lowest on intermediary fees in the Championship (£154,653).

The Championship figure was part of a total spend in English football of £318m, up £60m on the previous year. The Premier League clubs spent a combined £261m on agent fees, £50m more than a year before, an increase of nearly 25 per cent.

Liverpool topped the list (£43.7m) with Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United completing the top four. League One sides spent almost £6m, with Sunderland accounting for half of the total. League Two clubs gave agents just under £1m. Salford were the National League’s biggest spenders, paying out £76,000 in fees.