In hindsight, we probably should’ve all been football agents really. These people arguably have the easiest jobs in football and arguably the world. All you need is a player to represent (being related to one is super helpful) and then the ability to mug a club off for loads of money while pocketing a large chunk for yourself. Now what a life that would be. Football agents are very much living the dream and it has got to stop really. Agents’ main purpose seems to be driving up prices to fill their own back pockets and that is why they need to be consigned to Room 433.
This week, in particular, the football ‘super’ agent Mino Raiola has decided to pipe up. Raiola has represented some of the biggest names in world football, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Etienne Capoue (that second one is a bad example). Raiola has been popping up on Twitter talking about his star client, Paul Pogba. Obviously, there has been a lot of rumour and innuendo over the past few weeks that Pogba wants to leave Man United and Paul Scholes, in particular, has criticized Pogba for lacking leadership. Raiola, of course, tried to de-escalate the situation by taking to Twitter and basically saying Scholes should become Sporting Director so Pogba can be sold.
Who is this helping? Raiola, of course. The closer the Frenchman gets to the Man United exit door the more chance of a massive payday for his agent. Agents should have the best interest of the players they represent at heart and it is hard to see how creating further divisions at Man United is helpful for Pogba at this point in the season. Time and time again, we see agents put their own interests ahead of their clients’, for financial reasons.
Agents are now ludicrously powerful too. Jorge Mendes is another of these ‘super’ agents and the man has more clients than I’ve had hot dinners. In fact, Mendes is so powerful he is essentially running a Premier League club. Now, while Wolves are by no means breaking any rules having an agent so high up in a club, a football agent with this much power would have been unforeseeable just a few short years ago.
Money has been sloshing around in the game for a long while but the unprecedented power of these agents has to stop surely? That is why football agents are going into Room 433 for the rest of time.
Now, I’m off to speak to my agent to get me a better contract with this website…
