September 8, 2022
The brief from today:
Galatasaray make moves on deadline day
The Turkish Super Lig transfer deadline was today, one week after most of Europe’s other leagues. Istanbul based, Galatasaray, having already made some major moves earlier in the window, closed things out on a high note. Galatasaray last won the league in the 2018/19 season, and in the three years since they have witnessed Istanbul Basaksehir, Besiktas, and Trabzonspor claim top honors respectively. In their bid to regain the league title Galatasaray brought in some big names earlier this summer including: Lucas Toreirra and Dries Mertens to bolster the quality and experience of the team. They didn’t stop there, however, as deadline day of the transfer window saw Turkey’s most successful side close deals for Argentinian striker, Mauro Icardi, as well as Spain international, Juan Mata, amongst others. While some of these names were either out of the starting lineup at their previous clubs, or out of contract—or both in Mata’s case—they still have something to contribute. In Icardi, they get an accomplished striker who simply couldn’t break into the first 11 at PSG ahead of Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar, but he has shown from his time at Inter that he is a solid finisher. At 29, Icardi himself will want to prove he can still perform at a high level. Meanwhile, players like Mertens, who left Napoli as their record goal scorer in Serie A, joined as a free agent after nine years in Italy that saw him score 103 times. A little older than Icardi, the 35-year-old Mertens will still look to add to his career goals alongside his fellow new signing. All the players still have something to prove following the trajectory of their careers in recent years, and Galatasaray will be hoping to be the beneficiaries of each player’s potential regaining of their best form.
Football agents enjoy lucrative transfer window
A lot was made of the transfer spending by clubs this summer with Premier League teams outspending every other league in sight. Now that the summer transfer window is over, even for the leagues that remained open slightly later than others, the numbers have been tallied. Clubs spent a total of $5 billion in the past two months since the market opened, a number that was almost 30 percent higher than last summer’s. The FIFA report responsible for this audit honed in on a particular aspect of all the dealings, and that was the amount agents were able to pocket from all transfers. According to the findings, roughly 10 percent of the overall amount, around $494.4 million, went to the agents who brokered the negotiations and eventual transfers. These figures reflect the steady increase of agent fees in relation to transfer fees over the past decade, with various audits showing a rise in that proportion from 6 percent to 9 percent. These numbers are also indicators as to why the existence of the super agent has become more prevalent. Nowadays, fans don’t just know the name of players, they also know who Jorge Mendes, Jonathan Barnett, or the late Mino Raiola are. These are just some of the names that wield ever increasing influence over clubs’ transfer strategy because they are the representatives numerous players, or they call the biggest names in the game their clients. With FIFA taking umbrage in recent years over increased agent influence, it’s hardly surprising that their report didn’t stop at disclosing what clubs spent, instead choosing to do some additional digging, and disclosing, on how much richer agents became this summer.
Super agent, Jorge Mendes (C), and his agency, Gestifute, represent Cristiano Ronaldo and many others