“How Kevin De Bruyne’s Success Has Changed the Agent’s Role in the Football Industry”
There is an agent behind any great footballer in modern football who pulls strings in their favor. Agents play a vital part in the past, from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Jamie Vardy, as they try to secure the best opportunities for their clients.
Important of the Player Agent
Besides the opinion that agents are unnecessary commodities that suck millions of money out of the game, several manners show how the agent has made player life easier. In most scenarios, a relationship between an agent and a client starts when a footballer’s career officially begins. The agent becomes an official representative of the player ahead of any parents, coaches, or guardians in all off-the-field matters. This means depending on the player’s career, the agents sort out their sponsorships, contracts, and public relations, handle any transfers as well as decide how a player invests any excessive amounts of money they may earn amongst an extensive list of responsibilities.
Apply some common logic and it becomes evident that the more successful the player is, the more valuable he becomes as a client to the agent. The agents themselves are entitled to a commission of any kind of earnings, endorsements, or contract negations, and depending on an agent’s ability to select a talented and capable player they can represent, their business can become extremely profitable. This simultaneously is the same reason why they are envied and criticised by many in the football world as they can earn millions of pounds after one day’s work, depending on what happens to their player on the pitch.
It would be foolish to assume that football agents everywhere are clean, though, and therefore questions must be raised about other smaller leagues around the world that do not have a media microscope over every transfer dealing that takes place.
But without agents, football would be a mess of dodgy dealings and underhand tactics where fraud would be commonplace. Agents act and perform their duties under the watchful eye of FIFA and all other corresponding authorities. Without the strict infrastructure they apply, players would be extremely vulnerable and so would the market they operate in.
The Beginning of the End
In many cases, the involvement of the agent accused became the main reason the players are not loyal to the club. Mino Raiola always mentions behind the lengthy process of Donaruma contract extension in Milan or the Pogba class with Mourinho in United. Many people agree that agent has made football became an industry that only focuses on making money. However, the agent phenomenon in football might be ended after the success of Kevin De Bruyne to work on his contract extension without any assistance from a middleman.
Some said it might be the beginning of the end for overpaid, interfering football agents. De Bruyne able to used data instead of an agent to work on his contract extension in Manchester City. Even though it was an unconventional approach, it is clearly paid off. Since he was paid £350,00-a-week but that figure has risen to £400,000-a-week after the new £83.2 million four-year deal. The success story of how data collected able to convince Manchester City to give a significant pay-rise might be replicated by the others soon.
De Bruyne decides to not use any help on his contract extension in Manchester City after his ex-agent, Patrick Koster, was detained for bleaching of money and use of false documents. However, in the long run, this case can turn Manchester City and the other clubs to work on an agreement with their player. De Bruyne’s case might be good news for several managers and clubs that against the use of an agent that in some cases, has creates internal problems between the club and player. Based on the data, Premier League clubs have handed over £272 million to agents over the past 12 months, and here was one of the division’s most coveted and elegant players handling his own business.
The Present and Future
The football industry has massively grown and it leads to the need for professional football agents that able to help the player with several economic tasks. However, the central roles that “super” agents such as Raiola or Jorge Mendes are likely to decrease over time. De Bruyne’s success is not only affected his earning in Manchester City but he also became a role model for many players to work on their contract without any help of an agent.