In the modern footballing world, where money appears to run the rule over everything, agents have become just as famous as their superstar clients.
The recent summer transfer window saw the likes of Mino Raiola reportedly claim a £20m cut in the world record deal that brought Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United, while we regularly hear of Jorge Mendes and his impressive portfolio of stars including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.
But while we sit back and allow ourselves to be shocked at the level of cash being thrown around in football in the modern era, most of us are ignorant to what really goes on behind the scenes when a transfer is being discussed by two clubs.
So step forward Jon Smith, the former football agent who once boasted a portfolio of around 400 clients – ranging from Maradona to Tony Cottee – who has decided to release a book of his memoirs and give us all a fascinating insight into what really goes on behind the transfer rumours and what life was like as football agent.
Jon Smith also played a key role in the foundation and growth of the Premier League that we all love today, and also previously represented the England nation team’s commercial interests, so it’s fair to say the man has one or two interesting stories to tell about the beautiful game.
Jon Smith’s autobiography ‘The Deal – Inside the world of a Super Agent’, co-authored by James Olly, is available to buy today (Thursday) and gives us all a true insight into the life of a football agent.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Jon ahead of the launch of his first book to discuss Paul Pogba’s move to Man United, why the Premier League is like The Beatles of the sixties and how Everton once beat Arsenal to Tony Cottee’s signature…
FFC: Tell us about your book ‘The Deal’ – Why now?
JS: Well, after I sold out a lot of people came to me and asked me to write a book and I thought ‘no, I don’t think so – I’d quite like to eat in this town again.’
I waited three or four years and then I was talking about football with a friend of mine over dinner, Neil Blair – JK Rowling’s partner and agent – and he said, ‘you need to document this because it’s unbelievable, football fans really don’t know what’s going on.’
I thought that there’s so much money in the game now, and I was one of the guys that started it all, I saw it all the way through to where we were a couple of years ago. I just thought it would be really interested for fans to know, in a real professional manner, what really goes on.
It’s not hurting anybody, it’s just this is a huge business. To really understand really goes in these bigger deals, I think the fans will find it fascinating and they’ll have another insight that they’ve never had before.
FFC: Lots of fans couldn’t believe the reports that Mino Raiola had taken a £20m cut from the Pogba deal this summer. What are your thoughts on that deal?
JS: I have no qualms in saying that Raiola did well. He has looked after him, he’s managed him, he’s probably subsidised him and he has looked after him and his family for years!
If the system allows him to take fees of that amount I don’t see anything wrong with it. When you look at some of the big financial transactions that happen in the City, they get sums bigger than that and no one bats and eyelid because it’s just accepted. Bank executives will take huge bonuses of many millions when the bank has lost many billions!
Manchester United always had the option to say no. Meanwhile, by the way, they spent £89m, including Raiola’s fee, and they’ve sold 190m dollars worth of Pogba shirts so, you know, maybe they got it right!
FFC: But it’s harder for fans to justify that can kind of money…
JS: Well, I talked last week about a player who was going between two Premier League clubs.
It broke down because of the fee, it couldn’t be agreed and it was in excess of £20m. They were only two or three million apart. The agent involved was telling me about it and saying that he was annoyed because the player wants to go but the club he’s at wouldn’t let him go because of the fee.
Anyway. so what’s going to happen is that the player is under 24 and in the last year of his contract, so he can give notice in January. If he goes to a club in England he’ll become a tribunal player, which means the fee won’t be far off what it was, but if he goes abroad it’s compensation, which is £400k.
So they’ve already got something lined up where the player will go to Europe for a short time, the club will then sell him back here for half the price having made some money, the player will get twice the money he is going to get, he’ll have hopefully improved and the agent will get roughly £5m.
People will be like, ‘Wow, £5m!?’ but in reality, they’ve saved everybody millions of pounds by doing that. And that’s the role of the agent, beyond looking after the player’s everyday life, that’s where it has come to.
Again, I don’t have a problem with that. They’ve done a damn good job for their client, they’ve been clever, they’ve enhanced his career, enhanced his financial value and they’ve helped the buying club.
FFC: And now these agents, such as Raiola and Jorge Mendes, are now becoming just as famous as their superstar clients. Why do you think that is?
JS: It’s because we know how to use the media. In Italy they are absolute personalities, the top agents are on the chat shows! We haven’t quite reached that stage here yet, though.
We know how to position ourselves, we know how to advertise ourselves. The players talk amongst themselves, dressing room talk is very powerful.
FFC: Some deals seem to take ages to be completed while others appear to happen very quickly. Is this really the case?
JS: A lot of the Pogba deal was done early doors in the summer, it was just the final bits and pieces that took a few days or weeks. But most deals of substance are discussed for some weeks and some months in advance, bearing in mind there is a lot of analytics in the game now.
For example, certain full-backs will like to push on and leave space at the back, so clubs will look at whether they would need to create a covering player. Clubs will look at it and consider whether if they buy this player, how will he perform in terms of the rest of the team’s systemization.
If it’s not working after a certain amount of time in a game, they can change it. That needs a lot of analytics, so I think all of that takes a bit of time. Then there budgets, which are normally pre-set, and then this year we had the issue of coming out of the European Union and our currency fell dramatically.That led to some clubs paying sizeably more, but this is probably why some of the prices in Europe suddenly came down during the final few days of the window. It really is circumstantial.
There are teams that will plan in March, April, and May, then in June the window opens and they hesitate. They’ll do something quickly because they just want to tie something up, like Chelsea this summer, then the season starts and the manager sits there after a couple of games and suddenly realises he desperately needs a centre-back because the one he’s got isn’t working – then suddenly they rush through a deal for a centre-back in just two weeks.
All the research has gone out of the window in that deal and I love that because that’s when the heart starts ruling the head.
FFC: Do you think the transfer window closing after the season has started benefits agents?
JS: Oh, of course, there’s no question! Players that were hot last year may not be lukewarm yet early doors, so they’re looking for cover all the time.
Their squads are now 30 odd players strong, all on reasonable wages, so it’s a definite bonus for agents.
FFC: But what if there was no longer a transfer window? Would transfer fees and wages be as high?
JS: No, it crystallises that you’ve got to do something. Clubs have got to actually over buy. A club like West Ham, for example, they brought 13 new players in because after August 31 they’re knackered until January 1 to sign any backups to make a push for Europe.
So they have to over buy so that they don’t fall short. By doing it that way rather than buying two or three big players like Man United is an interesting way of doing things – that’ll be proven right or wrong in the next few weeks.
FFC: We witnessed a pretty big twist on Deadline Day this summer, with Tottenham snatching Moussa Sissoko from Everton’s grasp right at the last minute. What’s the most bizarre twist you experienced as an agent?
JS: Going right the way back, there weren’t many times in history where these situations happened.
The first one I was involved in was probably Tony Cottee, where we had Everton and Arsenal interested. We went to Everton first and they made us their best offer, which wasn’t bad at all, they had pushed the boat out a little bit.
But Arsenal’s offer was really low. Sizeably low. We asked Arsenal to make a better offer because they were so far apart from Everton’s proposal, but they didn’t. Arsenal wouldn’t budge.
So we phoned Everton and asked them to improve on their first offer to ensure they got him instead of Arsenal, and they jumped at the chance. I loved it because these days conversations are had in private hotels, private jets, private houses, etc. But in this case, we met on the M25 service station, South Mimms, and we met in the middle of the restaurant there.
There were members of the public coming up and going, “Hey Tony, you alright? Oh, is that what you’re getting? Good on you, mate!” And we did it on the back of napkins, it was astonishing.
Anyway, he signed for Everton and scored with his first touch on his debut. And I’m thinking ‘this is one of the best moments of my life.’ You just can’t get that feeling anywhere else.
FFC: Finally, you played a key role in the foundation and growth of the Premier League. What are your thoughts on the level it has reached now and the money/attention it is generating globally?
JS: It’s great! We’re a big global industry but if you look at the oil industry, gas industry, the fashion industry, etc, we’re still a small global corporate structure, of which there are half a dozen territories that really dominate.
So we’re growing and it’s only 20-odd years since we started so I’m really proud of it. I can go anywhere around the world, from Hong Kong to Honduras, and everyone talks about football.
I go to places like New Zealand or South Africa and people will be like, ‘oh, you were behind the start of the EPL, you had the England team, and you know this and that.’
Suddenly you’re celebrity because people love English football. It’s a bit like the Beatles of the sixties. The Beatles changed the world of music, fashion, living and lifestyle and football, in its own way, is driving the English brand in particular around the world.
I think it’s fantastic, and long may it continue.
You can purchase Jon Smith’s book ‘The Deal – Inside the world of a Super Agent’ on Amazon here. And it is also available at Waterstones.