Image: BBC Sport
The first instance that I can remember where a
player had held a club to ransom was Patrick Vieira. Talk of a £100,000-a-week
contract at that time was almost unheard of, yet Arsenal were more than happy
to meet that demand. And it wasn’t the first time that Vieira had given his
club a nervous wait for a signature on a contract.
This was
largely down to what has been labeled “player power”, or perhaps more
accurately, “agent power”. The person or people behind young, talented players
have had an increased role to play over the last decade or more, putting often
unrealistic demands on a club in order to keep their prized assets.
The most
recent case in the news has been that of Raheem Sterling, who very publicly
announced that he had turned down a £100,000-a-week contract with Liverpool – a
pay rise of £65,000 on his current deal which runs for another season or two.
Sterling’s
interview with the BBC was considered a “PR disaster” by various pundits,
thinking it completely unnecessary to speak about how and why the 20-year old
hasn’t put pen to paper.
But was it the
player’s choice to do so, or the advisors and agents behind the scenes? After
all, they have a vested interest in anything the player takes home – often a
very significant percentage of his earnings.
Rule Changes
With the
increasing marketability of successful young stars, opportunities outside of
their player wages can be potentially limitless. Cristiano Ronaldo’s
endorsement deal with Nike is reportedly worth £14.1million per year. That’s on
top of his £13.7million annual wages, as well as all of the other promotional work
that he does.
Suffice to
say, earning power is astronomical when your playing stock is high. And your
agents, representatives and advisors stand to earn very comfortable livings on
the back of your successes.
The word
“exploit” can have both good and bad meanings; you might want to make the most
of your own good situation, or take advantage of someone else’s bad one. So it
is the new way in which agents are governed which is causing concern amongst
those trying to safeguard the moral handling of young players’ affairs.
No longer will
Fifa be the overarching body responsible for agent rules. Such ‘deregulation’
means that agents will have to adhere to the rules from their own country. It
also means that anybody with “an impeccable reputation” can simply pay £500 to
the FA and become an intermediary, or in other words, a player or club
representative.
What’s the danger?
And why is
this a potentially bad thing? It comes back to that word “exploit”. One of the
major concerns is that young footballers on the brink of potential global
stardom and success will be lured towards a representative that might be
attractive for all the wrong reasons. Though not necessarily in all cases, what
might be lacking in expertise could be replaced with glitz and glamour.
Speaking
to the BBC, David Seligman, a solicitor and agent, said, "A player could
end up signing with someone who isn't insured and will not be qualified for
several years. Those sorts
of guys are going to be going out and representing players without having the necessary skill or qualification to do so. It could
cause problems down the line."
Bad
advice can be dangerous to a young player, particularly in a cash rich business like the
Premier League. The number of players in the English game’s “lost generation” stretches too far to be counted. It might be
reasonable to argue that this has been due to greed and exploitation from agents and advisors.
A
short, lucrative career of a 19-year old starlet is a better bet for
agents than a long and languid one.
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