How is a fat football agent getting so much publicity? Mino Raiola is “acting on behalf of” Paul Pogba so, when he decides to insult Paul Scholes on social media, it is actually Pogba doing the insulting.
Now we know that isn’t the case and that the French player probably numbers Scholes amongst his favourite midfielders of all time. So why does he insist on continuing to employ an arrogant, obnoxious, fat and, admittedly rich, (which we had to include otherwise Bernard Manning would be spinning), so-and-so who, when he isn’t trying to extort as much money as possible from his clients and football clubs, is busy telling everybody else what to do.
Why have agents been allowed to grow into famous power-hungry leeches who actually think they have something important to say? It has now reached the stage where they are besmirching the good name of honest and genuine parasites who do what they do because nature told them to, not because of greed.
They are the modern equivalent of the timeshare salesmen of old. The dodgy ones, not the many honest ones the industry undoubtedly employed. They will lie, cheat and steal as long as it puts some dough in their pocket. They don’t care about integrity, honour or any other old-fashioned value which, nowadays, are becoming far more difficult to find anywhere, let alone in professional football.
Have footballers always had agents? We can’t remember the name of the agent involved in the Denis Law transfer from Torino to Manchester United. We also don’t recollect the Mr. 15% of Cristiano Ronaldo when he originally left Sporting for Manchester United.
When Denis Law signed for United there wasn’t an agent in sight
So is it a relatively modern thing? If so, why are they needed? Clubs, no doubt, will argue that it is easier to deal with one agent than with four or five players, but this assumes that all the players are represented by the same agent.
It is also true to say that the majority of football players are not blessed with anything like the required amount of brain cells to succeed at anything other than a sport so an agent with half a brain trumps a player with none. It leaves them free to sit on a beach in the Caribbean waiting for their agent to phone them and let them know for which club they will be playing next season. Oh, and how much they owe them, of course.
They have become a necessary evil and, that being the case, should be treated as such.
Firstly, the agent acts on behalf of the player so it is the player who should pay the fees. Any club paying anything to the agent is actually bribing them in order to get the player.
In any walk of life an agent is paid by the person or entity he is representing, ie. the one who employs him, not by the buyer, (unless you want to buy a property in Spain). This begs the question as to why an agent makes so much money out of a football club when he shouldn’t be paid a penny by them.
This is why all clubs around Europe are constantly complaining about the amount they spend on fees to these parasites yet there is a very simple answer. The clubs just need to get together and agree that NONE of them will pay another cent to an agent.
The Daily Express compiled a list of how much each Premier League club spent on agent’s fees last season and it is quite frightening when you bear in mind that this money is coming out of your, the supporter’s, pocket. Whether it be from ticket sales, club merchandise, Sky/BT subscriptions or even just buying the product of one of the club’s sponsors, YOU are paying these fees.
So if we accept that the football agent is here to stay, purely because it makes the life of a professional footballer even easier than it already is, can we at least stop them ripping off everyone they meet?
Paul Pogba – Appears to be a pawn in a game being played by his agent who seems to have a bigger agenda
There should be a new rule passed in time for the next transfer window that ALL agent’s fees are to be paid by the player involved in the transfer. After all, it is usually he who wants the move anyway so why should a club have to pay for this?
It is the only logical way forward as banning agents is not now a viable proposition and it is something which needs to be done quickly.
We for one, will not be holding our breath on this one because, as with everything football and money related, the wait could be a long one.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 