Agent fees Transparency!! | Vital Football

Agent fees Transparency!!

Spursex

Alert Team
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...l-greater-transparency-agent-fees-could-halt/


Strengthening will for greater transparency on agent fees could halt players agitating for a transfer


  • Chris_Bascombe1-small.png
10 September 2018 • 7:00am




TELEMMGLPICT000173934265_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQfy2dmClwgbjjulYfPTELibA.jpeg
Cristiano Ronaldo is unveiled by Juventus Credit: juventus fc

In the murky world of football transfers there is a most incendiary word, one capable of making the most hardened agent flinch.
“Transparency.”
Trying to establish how much a representative was paid for a deal is often met with a combination of incredulity and contempt, the responses evolving through the Premier League years. There was a time when the reaction to the question, ‘how much did the agent receive from that transfer?’ was reasonably standard.
“We have no obligation to tell you, so s-d off.” As the fees rose, that attitude shifted. “No-ones asks journalists what they earn, so s-d off.”




Now any attempt to report to breakdown how much of a £35 million price was sent to a selling club or ‘facilitator’ provokes a more blunt response.
“Who are you again and how did you get this number? S-d off.”


Such a generalisation is not entirely fair. Many player representatives perform an admirable and necessary job and are frustrated by cross-contamination caused by headlining ‘rogue’ caricatures with their extravagant agent fees and cultish client control.

Nevertheless, the lack of accessible information about who represents which player (or manager), how much they are paid for a deal (and why), and precisely where the mega money goes is a source of exasperation for those seeking a broader understanding of a transfer system where yearly ‘net spend’ figures can never be more than estimates without full disclosure.

Although we may never get complete access to the hidden costs of deals, there is a strengthening will for change. To not much fanfare, at last June’s AGM the Premier League chairmen and chief executives agreed to recommendations to make agents more accountable.

Among the ideas is an insistence any agent working in this country must receive all payments from English deals into a UK bank account - a potentially catastrophic blow to the bankers of Monaco and the Cayman Islands. They would also submit a financial statement detailing how much they have received a year from English-based deals, and there will be an agent ‘exam’ to ensure a measure of qualification for entering the profession.

Perhaps most radically, Premier League members would like a major alteration in the current system to prohibit clubs paying agents. They have requested the Premier League and Football Association devise new rules so it is players themselves - not their clubs - paying the agents fees.

TELEMMGLPICT000105203254_1_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJweKBzKy-elv44nBtiYCJlMU.jpeg

Paul Pogba moved from Juventus to Manchester United for £89m in 2016 Credit: afp
Rather than make lump sum payments, fees would be spread over the course of a player’s contract. If a workable solution can be agreed, this could have a significant impact not only on the annual costs to the clubs, but the number of players (or representatives) regularly pushing for transfers.

Potentially, it will be more financially beneficial for a representative to ensure his or her client remains at the club for the full term of their deal rather than sold on to get another agent fee.

Consider this purely hypothetical example. If your client was moved from, let’s say, Juventus to Manchester United in a five year deal and you received an agent fee of £41 million, you would only receive all this if the player remained for five years – presumably £8.2 million a year - and it would come from the player’s wage slip. There would be less fiscal motivation to stir up social media arguments with Old Trafford legends in a blatant effort try to engineer the player’s return to Juventus within two years.

As was reported last June, the clubs also want to ban dual representation, whereby an agent represents a client and the club. Clearly there is potential for a conflict of interest. It is no surprise the majority of clubs agreed these proposals – formulated after a year long study led by a Premier League working group comprising executives, sporting directors and lawyers. Enforcing them will be more complex.

Fifa want to reverse their decision to de-regulate agents

Having de-regulated agents in 2015 - basically passing the buck to individual associations to award licences - Fifa have acknowledged their mistake and want to reverse this decision with fresh directives. They support a five per cent cap on agent fees, a suggestion not supported by the Premier League. Restricting payment levels could be a legal minefield.

At this Thursday’s shareholders meeting, the Premier League chiefs will discuss whether to push on with their plans, pause while Fifa finalise their proposals or seek to merge elements of both.

Whatever the outcome, it is possible the ‘agents fees’ league table - published and received with nowhere near as much repugnance as it ought to be every season - may become obsolete in its current form with agents compelled to send more invoices to their clients rather than clubs.

If such a transition is agreed, many of us will be rushing for the popcorn and settling down to enjoy the evolving relationship between a superstar player and superagent when the next £41 million bill for securing their dream move is delivered.