When you think of the people in football, you often think of the players, managers, referees, coaches, fans, chairmen etc., however, football is not complete without agents and in today’s climate, never will be. Agents are the only authorised people by FIFA who are able to act as the middlemen during transfer and contract negotiations, often the people who drive up a player’s fee to lofty heights. And agents are not invincible, a player is able to sack the agent at any time.
The business of representing players has become a sport in itself and is a lucrative industry. There a number of super agents floating about, particularly the like of Jorge Mendes, Cristiano Ronaldo’s representative. But who are the top five richest football agents in the world?
- Mino Raiola is in at number of five with his wealth totalling £18.7million.
Mino Raiola is the classed as the super agent of bad boys as he lists some rowdy players on his books. That said, with the likes of Mario Balotelli, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovi?, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Blaise Matuidi, Maxwell and Romelu Lukaku, he certainly possesses an impressive pool of talent. He earned some impressive cash when Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United for an astronomical fee with rumours suggesting he made some £20million from the transfer. And with Manchester United odds with William Hill free bets to win the Premier League, it’s likely he will have some happy clients come May.
- Jose Otin takes the number four spot with his wealth at a reported £19.2million.
With the obvious exclusion of Jorge Mendes, Otin is La Liga’s go to guy and he represents a boatload of Spanish players including Pedro, Vitolo, Fernando Torres, Javi Martinez, Jesus Navas, Raul Garcia and Nacho Monreal.
- Volker Struth sits in third place with £27.8million in the bank.
Elsewhere in Europe, where there are sites for football betting, Volker Struth is the Bundesliga’s main man and anybody looking to sign players from Germany’s top flight is likely to have to deal with this guy. He is known more than anybody to get things done and boasts an impressive list of clients which includes Marco Reus, Mario Gotze, Toni Kroos, Benedikt Howedes, Sidney Sam, Omer Toprak, Gonzalo Castro and Josip Drmic.
- Jonathan Barnett pips Struth to second place ever so slightly with an estimated worth of £28.8million.
Barnett is the big man when it comes to the free-spending Premier League. Remember Gareth Bale’s mega deal from Spurs to Real Madrid which seemed to last an eternity? Barnett is the man who commissioned the move. His other clients include: Joe Hart, Wojciech Szczesny, Scott Sinclair, Luke Shaw, Rafael, Adam Lallana, Ashley Cole, Patrick Roberts and Richard Wright.
- Nobody comes close to Jorge Mendes who takes the top spot with a net worth to make some Premier League footballers feel like the average Joe Public as he has raked in an estimated £62.8million.
Without a doubt, Mendes is the most popular and richest football agent in the game. His clients are as equally as impressive as not only does Ronaldo feature on the list but so does Jose Mourinho, James Rodriguez, Eliaquim Mangala, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Fabio Coentrao, Diego Costa, Thiago Silva, Tiago, Radamel Falcao, Angel di Maria and David de Gea.