Premier League to rein in the agents
THE Premier League are to join the crackdown on football agents after the clubs voted at their summer meeting to draft new regulations.
A majority decision — backed by 15 clubs — will see the PL draw up recommendations to pass on to FIFA, who are currently involved in creating their own global rulebook to control the middlemen.
PL executive chairman Richard Scudamore believes it is the right move as so many of the world’s biggest football transfers involve PL clubs. Paul Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola’s obscene £41m cut when his client joined Manchester United from Juventus was the catalyst for FIFA to try to bring order to the Wild West environment in which agents are operating.
Scudamore, who sits with Arsenal’s Ivan Gazidis on the FIFA stakeholders committee, who are advising on agent reforms, said: ‘There is a supposition the players do not know what the heck is going on. We intend to address this to ensure the players know their own situation.’
The PL will be looking at all transfers going through UK bank accounts, bringing back agents’ exams and forcing agents to submit detailed financial records.
The Association of Football Agents, who met this week, are keen to work in a regulated way but reject the three per cent cap on their earnings from transfers being mooted by FIFA.