Why will a profession like mine that is supposed to thrive on investigating, finding out information and informing everybody about the findings, not be interested in uncovering the dirty work of agents?
I suppose that it is to do with business decisions. Agents tell journalists things that, true or lie, will get reactions from football fans.
Football fans are the ones who spend their money on the publications, and if that tells them something about their beloved team, they will not think twice about parting with their money.
If in the end the information proves to be untrue, the journalist can always get away with it, as it was not his opinion, but what the agent said.
So we are always in a win-win situation. First with our bosses, because we got the interview. Second with the agent, because we have printed or played what he wanted to say. Third with the fans because we carry important information that it is vital to them. But also if all goes wrong, it was not what we said, but the agent did.
Don’t get me wrong, football is not as pretty a game off the pitch as it can be on it.
The agents have a job to do, which is representing their clients.
They get paid like most of us, but they have bonus schemes which they earn when they negotiate a wage rise or a transfer to anew club.
That is where the underworld of football becomes dirty. A player signs a long term contract with a club, agent gets a nice bonus (entitled per contract), then the player becomes a high performer, and in order to take advantage of that, the agent has two options.
a) bring to the club’s table this enhanced performance, hence deserving an improvement on the contract
b) Try to get a transfer for his client which will bring him another bonus.(entitled by contract)
A footballer’s career is very short, and there is nothing wrong with trying to better yourself and earn more money.
I understand that if you are a fan of certain team, when a player leaves for finacial reasons it hurts, because they don’t show the same respect for the badge, that you have, but he is a professional and he makes a living out of this game.
Wouldn’t any of us consider a move to a better paid job, that offers us different possibilities? So why criticise them?
In the latest example of how agents move, think and operate, we find the old fox that is Jorge Cysterszpiler.
The Argentinean middle man has been in business for many many years. He has represented Diego Maradona and many other players and Managers since the beginning of the 80’s.
He was also the guy who opened the Russian market (picture) for Argentinean players.
He now represents Matias Suarez, and Argentinean striker, currently playing for Anderlecht, and who I reported to have a pre-contract signed to join Arsenal in the summer.
I will take you step by step of what happened when talking to Italian press he talked about the future of Matias.
First let’s see the location of the interview: Italy
Talking to: Local press
Content of what he said “There has been a lot of interest on Matias Suarez. Juventus has shown interest, Both Manchester teams, Liverpool has talked about him. We know for sure Matias will leave Anderlecht this summer, but they are not going to go on the cheap. I will be back in Italy on April to discuss his future”
Cysterszpiler, represents players like Demichelis, Chori Domingues, David Pizarro, Stracqualursi, Andujar, Llama, etc. As I said earlier he also represented Maradona, Guly and Julio Cruz amongst others.
Read into his words.
He is in Italy, where supposedly Juventus wants Suarez.
If Juve calls him and asks (what is this about Matias being signed to someone else already?”
If his answer was as what should have been “Sorry Matias is unavailable”, that is it, all his business there would have ended.
However, if he says “leave it with me I ll see what I can do” he gains their trust.
He then proves that newly gained trust by going on TV and telling the world what he did.
The next step is his line on that interview “I ll be back in Italy on April…”
He has now until then to find one of his other clients, who he can tell Juve “look, Matias is unavailable, but I have so and so who is as good if not better, blah blah”
Note also what he has done on the interview. He mentioned Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City.
Three teams that have history, reputation and money, which means that by saying that he has players on his portfolio who are interesting clubs of that pedigree, you are a top agent. Makes clubs wanting to deal with you and more players to be represented by you.
I like Cyterszpiler, he is shroud, he is clever, very smooth on his operations, and his clients love him. But with the years I learnt when and when not to trust or believe what he says.
Football is not just a game; it is a business and one that carries a lot of money.
Many people’s livelihoods depend on it, and they do whatever it takes to survive in a man eats man world.