Never have so many been looked after by so few!
Some of the biggest players in the market, when it comes to really
representation, are looked after by just a few top notch Agents.
Business analysts Forbes have published their
most recent findings on the world's richest football agents, with those
responsible for brokering deals for the biggest names unsurprisingly at the top
of the list:
1. Jorge
Mendes
Agency: Gestifute International
Represents: Cristiano Ronaldo, James
Rodriguez, Eliaquim Mangala, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Fabio Coentrao,Diego
Costa, Thiago Silva, Tiago, Radamel Falcao, Angel di Maria, David de Gea, Jose
Mourinho.
Contracts
worth: £626.3m
Commissions: £62.8m
Mendes is the undisputed top dog of football
agents, negotiating more than £625m in player contracts, including a £135m deal
for client Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid. Ronaldo returned the favour when
his agent recently got married, buying him with a Greek island as a wedding
present.
Sir Alex Ferguson wrote in his new
autobiography Leading: 'There are some decent agents, but you don't need all
the fingers of one hand to count them. Jorge Mendes is one.'
2.
Jonathan Barnett
Agency: Stellar Group
Represents: Gareth Bale, Joe Hart,
Wojciech Szczesny, Scott Sinclair, Luke Shaw, Rafael, Glen Johnson, Phil
Jagielka, Adam Lallana, Ashley Cole, Sylvain Distin, Patrick Roberts, Richard
Wright
Contracts
worth: £287m
Commissions: £28.8m
Barnett masterminded Gareth Bale's £86million
move from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013, and the highest-placed Brit on the
list also played a crucial role in negotiating Luke Shaw's £27m move from
Southampton to Manchester United the following summer.
Barnett said earlier this month that Bale was
never close to leaving the Bernabeu for Old Trafford, describing the
speculation as 'stupid paper talk.'
3. Volker Struth
Agency: SportsTotal
Represents: Marco Reus, Mario Gotze,
Toni Kroos, Benedikt Howedes, Sidney Sam, Omer Toprak, Gonzalo Castro, Josip
Drmic.
Contracts
worth: £278m
Commissions: £27.8m
The SportsTotal agent is the most powerful
middle man in German football, with some of the biggest names currently plying
their trade in the Bundesliga being on his books.
Mario Gotze is one such illustrious name, but
Struth made headlines in the summer when he claimed the current Bayern Munich
boss Pep Guardiola had 'destroyed' his player through a lack of first-team
opportunities.
4. Jose
Otin
Agency: Bahia Internacional
Represents: Vitolo, Fernando Torres,
Javi Martinez, Jesus Navas, Pedro, Raul Garcia, Nacho Monreal
Contracts
worth: £191m
Commissions: £19.2m
Otin has cast his net across Europe, reaping
the rewards of negotiating deals for some of the biggest stars across the top
five leagues from one country to another.
The Bahia Internacional agent deals exclusively
with Spanish footballers, but that hasn't stopped the man who once worked in
radio from sending his clients abroad.
5. Mino
Raiola
Agency: Mino Raoila
Represents: Paul Pogba, Henrikh
Mkitarhyan, Blaise Matuidi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Maxwell, Romelu Lukaku, Mario
Balotelli
Contracts
worth: £186m
Commissions: £18.7m
Sir Alex Ferguson may have blamed Raiola for
the departure of Paul Pogba from Manchester United on the cheap, but the
player's agent is synonymous with the trade, becoming a revered figure among
his peers in recent years.
The Dutchman became Romelu Lukaku's agent
earlier this year, claiming the Belgian would not have joined Everton had the
striker been in his stable rather than that of long-standing agent Christophe
Henrotay in 2014.
6.
Fernando Felicevich
Agency: Fernando Felicevich
Represents: Alexis Sanchez, Arturo
Vidal, Claudio Bravo, Gary Medel
Contracts
worth: £148m
Commissions: £15m
Felicevich has become one of the game's most
coveted agents, having enjoyed an extremely lucrative 12 months following the
Brazil World Cup.
Chile's success at the tournament laid the
platform for things to come in this year's Copa America, with four of Jorge
Sampaoli's side now having signed big-money deals across Europe - all coming
from Felicevich's stable.
7.
Thomas Kroth
Agency: Pro Profil
Represents: Manuel Neuer, Aleksander
Dragovic, Shinji Kagawa, Sebastian Rode, Jose Holebas
Contracts
worth: £146m
Commissions
(career payments for completed deals): £14.7m
A tenacious German midfielder in his day, Kroth
has gone on to enjoy a far more successful career as an agent since hanging up
his boots in 1991. The one-cap wonder has Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer
on his books, as well as former Manchester United playmaker Shinji Kagawa.
Wow... so informative
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