"?Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has urged Premier League clubs to call for more regulation surrounding the amount of money paid to agents over transfers.
Reported by the "?Stoke Sentinel, figures from October 2015 and February 2016 show that Premier League clubs paid a total of £46.5m to agents, with Stoke's share of £1.75m the eighth-highest in the league.
That has mostly come down to The Potters' purchase of Porto midfielder Gianelli Imbula in January, signed for a club record of around £18.3m.
And it's big-money signings like Imbula that Coates concedes makes it difficult for clubs to agree to tougher regulations, because they want to pay big agents big fees to bring the best players to England.
"I wish we did it better, but it doesn't look as though there's anything in sight," said Coates.
"I'd like to have an agreement among all clubs about how much agents got paid, so a percentage or whatever, but we can't reach an agreement.
"Partly because it's so competitive and we are all trying to get an edge on our competitors."
Since Mark Hughes took charge of Stoke in 2013, the club has finished in ninth place for the last three seasons, with big names such as Marko Arnoutavic, Bojan and Xherdan Shaqiri all rocking up at the Britannia Stadium.
And Coates is frustrated when it comes to potentially adding more stars to the Stoke side, with clubs and agents playing the waiting game over summer moves.
"I find it a kind of frustrating period because of the difficulties you have in getting the players you'd like to have.
"It's a highly competitive market and agents play the field. They are looking to maximise their income and their player's income.
"They duck and dive, tell you one thing and tell somebody else another thing. We are well used to it all, but it's a tough time trying to get what you want and it's not easy."