Agents of the Game

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn

By Mosharrof Hossain

On August 2015, the richest football player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo chose a humongous present – an entire Mediterranean Island – as a wedding gift for one of his friends. Not only that, he was also the best man of that lavish ceremony. It is said that the groom, Jorge Mendes, is almost as influential as his best man when it comes to the football world.

However, Jorge was never a stupendous footballer and once had to work in nightclubs as a Disco Jockey to earn his livelihood. So how on earth did this Portuguese become one of the most influential figures in global sports tantamount to a modern-day maestro, and enjoy the amity with one of the finest and richest footballers the world has ever seen? What is the secret of his amazing ascendency? How did he ascend the ranks of football royalty?

Well, the man, who is reported to have more than $100 million, is a players’ agent – one of the most crucial personnel in modern day’s football fraternity.

In the lucrative world of modern football, which sees transactions in the millions, a player’s agent is the person who is in charge of managing the accounts and financial benefits for the players. In order to conduct all of this, one needs to accumulate a plethora of skills, namely: the faith of top footballers, recognize budding talents, nurture them and become a friend, philosopher, guide, and aide for players.

The agent is very closely involved in managing the career of a player. His main aim is to handle the player’s activities off the field and let him concentrate solely on his job of playing football. He plays an important role in guiding a player to take the best possible decision in terms of his professional as well as personal life. In brief, an agent takes off all the load of a footballer other than playing and allows him to focus just on his job.

Players remain in the center stage of the ever-growing transfer market, but agents play the pivotal role to sign these deals.

Transfer negotiation is the time when an agent’s role becomes more crucial. It’s not only about getting the player moved to another club but also negotiating the deal with the present club and personal terms with the potential future club. But an agent attracts the entire media spotlight during the contract negotiation period. As a matter of fact, during the pre-season transfer window, when the balls are not rolled for professional leagues, these agents fill up the sports pages with all sorts of transfer news, both legitimate and the speculative ones. And nowadays, as both journalists and football fans possess endless glut for footballing news, agents not only do the job of feeding them with all sorts of information but also take the center stage way too often.

During that transfer window, players change their clubs. Clubs contact the agents of the players they seek to make contracts. When the negotiation for the contract begins the agent tries to get the best for his client in terms of money, the number of year’s extension, performance benefits, and so on and so forth. It is true that the agent gets a hefty cut after making a successful deal but that is worthy for a player as the negotiating skill of the agent surely helps him inking a much better deal with the club in terms of money and facilities.

Agents also do the job of media management for his clients, the footballers and also the coaches via publicists. During the age of the internet, it is not easy for a professional footballer to manage the media as the players are under constant surveillance of myriad media. Hence, a player must follow the guideline of an expert about his public affairs to sustain his public image that is as important as playing well. One even argues to that extent that, in the epoch of commercialization maintaining a ‘market value’ or ‘brand’ is more important than mere footballing skill.
And here comes the agent; it’s his job to help the player to say the right things and show the world what he is all about. Agents today use social media effectively to promote their clients and help to develop a fan base for them. Thus, under his stewardship, a player not only lengthens his career but also accentuates it.

So the agent’s job is not only to make the players wealthy but acts as the lighthouse of their professional careers and navigate them to the shore of stardom.

Nowadays, players contact their agents for any problem and every problem they face, be it with the club, with a teammate or even girlfriend and wife. From finding a new car to a new house, paying bills to make holiday plans – agents play a vital role. For instance, Italian footballer Mario Balotelli once called his agent Mino Raiola when his house was on fire. And only after Riola, one of the celebrity agents – known as super agents, advised to call the fire brigade, the footballer could comprehend what he had to. Well, one may think Balettoli a dingbat but as a matter of fact, most of the footballers consult with their agents even before taking a step off the field. That shows the enormous role an agent plays in the life of footballers.

But not all players are connected with professional agents. Some notable players like Messi, Neymar, Totti, Ramos, Juan Mata, Arjen Robben are using their own family members as their agent, and there are players like Eden Hazard who have no agent.

However, not every player is lucky to have an agent in the family, so men like Mendes and Riola rule. These agents have also played a huge role in some of the biggest transfers in the history of the sport. The best examples are the transfers of Pavel Nedved to Juventus, Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Paul Pogba to Man United, Diego Costa to Chelsea and Thiago Silva to PSG.

Jorge Mendes represents individuals like Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho, David de Gea, Radamel Falcao, Nani, Pepe and Renato Sanches. On the other hand, Mino Raiola represents the likes of Paul Pogba, Pavel Nedved, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Marco Verratti, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mario Balotelli and Romelu Lukaku. We can even make a Mendes XI and Raiola XI with a valid football formation, and if they compete against each other, that would be a mouth-watering clash for all football fans.

Pogba had left Manchester United after playing only three matches on a $1.5 million transfer and after four years, he returned from Juventus for a fee of $130 million. In turn, his agent got 30% cut of that mammoth transfer fee. And after the world record transfer of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG, his father (his agent) received an amount of almost £20 million.

Jorge Mendes – ‘Super-Agent’ Mendez with his friend, champion compatriot, Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, there are other sides of the coin as De Gea transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid was postponed in the eleventh hour after days of discussions and paper works. That fiasco could not produce a single penny for the hapless agent.

Though the agents are more actively involved now, the history of involvement begins after the Second World War. Back in those days, there was no real control over football transfers and people from all parts of society found ways to earn some extra money within the business. The first big transfer with the help of an agent happened back in 1957 when the Wales international William John Charles moved from Leeds United to Juventus. The transfer fee was a record £65,000, almost doubling the previous record.

Well, there are, as in other things, good agents and bad agents. There are even incidents when agents ruined careers with improper transfers and guidance for the sake of their cut. Supporters often allege that these folks only chase money and for the pursuit of bucks they recklessly put their clients in a debacle. Last year, Barcelona fans blamed Neymar’s father for the transfer of the Brazilian talisman, they think, the move would ruin the career of the talented striker as playing in Ligue 1 (French league) for PSG is a lot less challenging than playing for their club. Barca fans think Neymar’s agent did it just for the money, not for the sake of his career. And there are many allegations like this throughout the footballing world.

There are graver allegations, unfortunately. In many poor countries, especially in Africa, agents lure the youngsters for big leagues. Parents sell their assets and pay the money to agents with those promises. But most often the wicked agents leave the hapless lads to oblivion, some lose their organs, some are used for prostitution and many other illicit activities.

Yet, the football agents are irreparable. The lucrative world of football would be a mess of potentially dangerous dealings and illegal tactics. In the big leagues under FIFA, UEFA, and other corresponding authorities keep their watchful eyes on the acts of agents. Without the strict infrastructure of the authority, the transfer market and the players would be extremely vulnerable.

But what about Bangladesh? Like many things, we had this culture of agents but with the demise of football, the culture became morbid. In the golden age of our football ‘scouts’ of the clubs used to search for talents and find them from the nook and corner of the country. Many of our superstars from yesteryears came to light through this process.

Many believe the football frantic nation with 160 million people has innumerable talent without being recognized. Perhaps we may not find a Messi but surely with ambition, a good agent may find an uncut diamond and shape that to a luminous one.

May one of us dare to dream to become a Jorge Mendes to find our own CR7?

Share:

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
On Key

Related Posts

THE EXTENDED 20s

The new life stage changing the way we think of target audiences. Or is it forever 20s?  We will see in time. But there is

TRADING AMONG FRIENDS

Implications of ‘friendshoring’, the newest term in global trade, on China’s dominance as the world’s manufacturing hub.   According to UN research, as geopolitical conflicts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.