Agent figures expected - Hughes

Mark Hughes has defended the vast sums of money Manchester City have spent on agents over the past 12 months.

Figures released by the Premier League on Monday placed City top of the table for payments to the much-derided middle men. Their £12,874,283 made up a substantial portion of the overall outlay of over £70million by England's top flight.

"If you do a lot of deals - and overall something like 35 were included - given the expenditure and the turnover of players involved, you would expect a figure like that," said Hughes.

"There is a role that has to be met and, at the moment, agents fill it.

"Do they provide value for money? You have to base every deal on its merits.

"Sometimes you feel the agent has really done his job, on others you feel he is getting money for nothing.

"At times they can muddy the waters. Some deals can seem quite straightforward and then they become complicated at the end.

"On other occasions the deal goes through very quickly."