Keeping it in the family can tame agents’ ‘Wild West’

TRUST is a precious commodity in the world of football agents. It is a ruthless and often morally ambiguous industry which FIFA found so difficult to police they gave up and deregulated it completely in April 2015.

National associations were left to pick up the pieces. Anyone who can scrape together £500 and meet the Football Association’s standard of an “impeccable reputation” — essentially no criminal record and a clean driving licence — can become what is now technically defined as an “intermediary” in England.

With no entrance exam required, the number of intermediaries working in England has more than quadrupled to more than 1,500 in the two-and-a-half years since deregulation. Many are looking for a slice of the Premier League’s £8.3billion television deal to make a quick buck.

Others are family members — many of whom have no relevant qualifications or any background in football whatsoever — looking to protect their loved ones from those intermediaries only interested in servicing their own needs rather than their client’s.

Throw in the fact that no intermediary is allowed to sign a player for longer than two years and the end result is a volatile marketplace which the Association of Football Agents has described as the “Wild West”.

There has been an increase in stories whereby parents of a promising youngster at academy level or higher have been offered a contribution towards a deposit on a house, an expensive watch or, in some instances, tens of thousands of pounds in cash to sign with a particular intermediary.

On one recent occasion, the father of a teenage player was told he would receive an Aston Martin in return for moving agents.

It can also work both ways. Two family members of one high-profile player at a London club met with several top agents last summer hinting said player could be available to move agencies. Instead, they gathered together the best information from the various pitches and simply used it to represent him on their own.

Despite many upstanding intermediaries operating in football — plenty with considerable playermanagement experience and expertise in contract law — the industry as a whole is generally viewed with suspicion.

Various agents are seeking to change that perception. The AFA continues to try to bring conformity and professionalism to a cutthroat industry with regular meetings and a code of conduct, while Mesut Özil’s agent, Dr Erkut Sogut, recently outlined his intent to publish a series of books to explain the industry to beginners.

Raps Management has sought to tackle the specific issue of trust between agents and players in a unique way.

Director Scott Smith has recently signed Liverpool and England Under-21 defender Trent AlexanderArnold in a co-deal with Trent’s brother Tyler, who will also join the agency as a director, handling

Trent’s affairs and fulfilling his own aspiration of managing other players.

Incorporating family members into the business has the dual benefit of developing trust between client and agent, ensuring decisions are taken in the best interest of that player’s career, while also providing additional security to that agency should rivals try to lure them away.

It is an unprecedented step and one not without risk. But should it prove successful, a new model could emerge in an industry redefining itself as numbers swell and authorities struggle to tackle the key issues. At the very least, it won’t do the agent world’s image any harm at all.