Players are losing out financially due to excessive fees paid to agents and soccer must address this, Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said.

“Most clubs pay to the limit when they buy a player and so wherever this money goes it will still be the case of paying to the limit,” Gazidis told a news conference following a meeting of the European Club Association (ECA), the organisation which represents European football clubs, to discuss the current transfer system.

“If I was a player or a players’ union this would concern me. Players should make more money as the money paid to the agents should be going to them.

“There is a lot of money given to agents and it is in our interests to change this.”

Gazidis said it was not a case of “trying to evade responsibility”.

“I know we are involved in agreeing to pay these amounts,” he said. “There are a lot of complications though as you are often dealing with cross-jurisdictions and agents have a role.”

An ECA study on a two-year period from 2011 to 2013 showed agents’ commissions totalled $254 million - 14.6 per cent of the value of the 865 transfers which took place involving European clubs.

“We know there is a problem and that there needs to be new regulations dealing with intermediaries. These are the numbers that we have found and it is for everyone to make their own conclusions,” said Milan director and ECA vice-chairman Umberto Gandini.

The report did find that the present transfer system allows for free movement of players.