Journalist Han Bing reports on Raiola, Jorge Mendes, Barnett, Horabuchin, Zahavi, and even Figuere, who is active in South America... In the world football of the 21st century, agents have become the protagonists from behind the scenes to the foreground, and to a large extent, they have become the third force that can influence world football in addition to football management institutions (FIFA, continental football federations, football associations and professional leagues) and big clubs.
Because they continue to refresh the star transfer fee, between the giants, and even let the agent's commission rise more than the player transfer fee and annual salary, forcing FIFA to repeatedly try to introduce relevant regulations, from the root of the complete "eradication" of this "transgressor" who tries to compete with the governing body and the club. Laiola's death has brought the super agent back to the center stage of world football, subject to scrutiny from all sides.
Super Broker is "Bosman 2.0"
The Bosman Act of 1995 gave players unprecedented autonomy, fundamentally increased the possibility of player mobility, and objectively accelerated the centralized trend of European football by taking advantage of the boom of the football industry in the era of globalization. The emergence of super agents has ushered in a major change in European football that can be called "Bosman 2.0". The few super agents account for a considerable share of the top star population, forming a strength enough to compete with football governing bodies and giants, so that the superstars have a certain transfer initiative.
This change that fundamentally shakes the dominant position of giant clubs in the ball market not only accelerates the rapid rise of player transfer fees and annual salaries, but also makes a small number of agents become a "star oligarchy" in a sense and have an unprecedented right to speak in the ball market. On the one hand, they continue to increase the proportion and amount of commissions, and even encourage players to constantly ask for club salary increases through the threat of transfer, which quickly increases the transfer expenses and salary costs of the giants.
Super agents such as Rayola, Mendes, Barnett, Zahawi and other super agents act in different styles, and the "sphere of influence" does not overlap much, but the impact on European and even world football is also obvious. They are no longer satisfied with hoarding players, and the way to make a profit by trading commissions, from Holabchin, who flourished in South America in the early years to Mendes, who almost swept the United Kingdom and Spain by relying on the Portuguese market in recent years, has tried to influence and even control the transfer and construction of top clubs.
Horabchin de facto took over the management of the giants Corinthians in Brazil, and Mendes basically controlled the reinforcements of Valencia in La Liga and Wolves in the Premier League, and even almost completely controlled the formation of the first team of A Coruña... This is a huge power that traditional brokers in the last century can hardly imagine. To this day, Mendes remains the most influential agent in the five major leagues, from Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea to Monaco, Valencia, DePortuna de La Coruna and Wolves.
Although Laiola does not have the ambitions of remotely controlling the top clubs like Mendes, the media resources he can mobilize and the sales methods he can use to the extreme when seeking super contracts for his superstars are unprecedented. Given the increasing trend of "family-based" agents in world football, the existence of these super agents has in fact formed a certain monopoly and has threatened the control of football governing bodies and giant clubs over the entire football industry.
Laiola's death will not shake the super agent's influence on the ball market, in addition to inheriting Vensenzo and Pimenta "Xiao ZhiCao", the gap in player resources he left behind will also be immediately divided by other super agents. But FIFA and the big clubs will not sit idly by while the super agents continue to sit big. The death of Raiola will surely provoke FIFA's action to "encircle" super agents. After all, FIFA lost to the clever Raiola at the Court of Arbitration for Sport 3 years ago, and Cheferin didn't want to lose to ambitious super agents again 3 years later.
The clams fight each other, and the player families profit
At the end of last year, FIFA released an International Transfer Agent Report, which showed that clubs would pay commissions to agents on players' international transfers in 2021 to reach $500.8 million. This is only an international transfer, and the commissions earned by agents are also very impressive in the more staggering intra-league transfers. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, international transfer spending has fallen for two consecutive years, plunging 13.9% in 2021. However, broker commissions bucked the trend and continued to grow.
FIFA is very dissatisfied with the increasing proportion of commissions by brokers, especially for transactions with low amounts, and the proportion of commissions is rising. Commissions accounted for 18.8 percent of last year's trades below $500,000. Of course, the amount of commission in the transfer of top superstars has never been lower. In 2016, Laiola ran Pogba's return to Manchester United transaction, and the transfer fee of the French midfielder eventually reached 127 million euros, and Laiola's commission was as high as 49 million euros.
FIFA plans to limit the greed of agents in terms of commission ratios, and in the future agents will have to choose between two proportions of commissions: either 10% of the transfer fee from the seller, or 6% of the total salary of the players, which is borne jointly by the buyer's club and the individual players. Obviously, this is a completely unacceptable ratio for super brokers. For example, in the negotiated Kylian kylin Kylian, although Mbappe's mother is the first agent, Horabchin has been entrusted by Real Madrid to intervene in it. The free agent Mbappe does not incur transfer fees, but the asking price of the broker's commission has reached 40 million euros, which is equivalent to 80% of the 50 million euros annual salary that Real Madrid offers Mbappe! How the brokers on both sides derive their respective benefits in this potential transfer of the century is also one of the factors that has dragged on the deal itself.
Laiola's death will not end an era of super agents who have affected every aspect of world football, but it will inevitably bring a new round of power and interests between FIFA and agents, including the relatives of players. This time, the super agents and relatives of players who are supposed to be "enemies" will temporarily form a coalition for only one purpose: to defend her natural right to "blackmail" the giants, as Raiola defeated FIFA at the Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sport 3 years ago.
