Football Agents Are Getting Out Of Hand

We all talk about football players and football teams. But there is a more legal side to this sport. As since it is monetized, there has been the need of extra manpower to share the load of the ever-increasing amount of cash flow into the sport. This is where the famous football agents come in. You must've heard of heard about Mino Raiola (passed away recently due to a heart disease). Raiola has been one of the most influential and cut throat football agent of the game. So harsh that clubs often avoided any interactions with him. But money is tempting. So those football agents over the years have been involved in pretty much shady works here and there.

FIFA first recognized football agents in 1994. Since then, today there are well over 5000 professional football agents around the globe and they represent thousands more football players. A football agent's job description is that he will manage a player's all the financial aspects. From wages and contract negotiations to endorsements, sponsorship deals and in building the player's own brand. There is another type of service which is called the 360-degree service. In this case the agent takes over all the aspects of a player’s life that does not include playing football. That actually includes as minor things as shopping and paying bills and planning holidays for the players. The usual fee isn’t much, just around 5-10% of a player’s earnings.

A distinct story from the latter part of the season 2020/2021, Kevin De Bruyne had to negotiate a contract extension with Manchester City. He himself was present in the board room while his agent, well, was in jail. Why? Because he complained against his agent of money laundering. In this situation people thought Kevin won't be able to negotiate a good deal for himself. It was going that way. The executives at Manchester City offer him a lower wage than he was being paid at that time. But Kevin didn't budge. He collected data from a data analytics firm he was privy with. And compiled a report that demonstrated how instrumental and important he was to the team till that time.

The executives couldn't actually deny all those facts and agreed. Eventually Kevin De Bruyne secured a significant pay rise for himself. That too, all without an agent. After this negotiation the public opinion was this, well, if De Bruyne at Manchester City can pull off this sort of an extension deal, what is the need of an agent anyway? Especially when modern day agents are charging more and more money from clubs and players. But what actually happened was that the agent scenario is on its way to be a more regulated side of the game. Many players are now hiring lawyers instead of football agents and many are going solo. Joshua Kimmich is such an example.

The thing that brought the outrage towards agents in the first place is the high fee obnoxious behaviors of them. We often see in transfers now where the agents receive a hefty fee from the buyer club and in return, they persuade the player to join that club. This is something that never should have happened. Agent fees are a norm now. Something that should not be happening. FIFA is now putting a cap on agent fees and are also to introduce licensing of agents. If all rules are imposed correctly, the filthy agent business might stop and they can return to just be legal advocates for their players as they should be.