Time clubs stopped fining the pockets of rich agents

IT IS staggering how little has been done to try to stop super-agents milking fortunes out of the game.

The latest stunning revelation has claimed Mino Raiola (right) will be paid over £41m after bringing Paul Pogba to Manchester United from Juventus for a world-record fee of £89m.

Ultimately, it’s the fans who are funding these astronomical fees, yet there won’t be banners or protests at Old Trafford about the way the cash has been splashed.

Just imagine what Jorge Mendes stands to pick up if Diego Costa leaves Chelsea for Tianjin Quanjian for £75m, with the Chinese club said to be ready to pay the striker £620,000 a week.

A new book, Football’s Secret Trade (Bloomberg) by Alex Duff and Tariq Panja, reveals how well Mendes has done in the past. “Mendes’ ability to broker deals between the best players and the richest clubs, plus his sideline in the transfer rights business that began with a bet on the teenage Costa, meant he had become extremely wealthy,” the book states. “Between 2008 and 2014, Mendes distributed L45.3m (£38.3m) in dividends to himself, Sandra (who he married in 2015) and nephew Luis Correia, who sets up endorsement deals for clients.” Nice work if you can get it. You also suspect those figures will be dwarfed by the next piece of business for the Portuguese deal maker. It is truly sickening to see such vast amounts disappearing out of what was once called ‘The People’s Game’. Not any more. That phrase is as far away from reality as a humble worker paying his wages into a Coutts bank account.