The agent is not a person. They are a company. Of course two companies want to be involved for tax. At least at some.level the deal is visible in both company accounts then. The pfa was a non entity imo in this regard as they are only there for the plebs who no agent is interested in. At this point the amount of money in the championship at the very least means the parasites have infected the body of football far deeper. We all I'm sure remember the monster monster character that was Eric hall. He was another who was into the cult of his own persona but compared to the gouging being done today he looks a saint. When the details of pogbas utd deal for mina raiola who seems to be the only person who has really gained from the whole thing (what's pogba won for utd??) 23 million which utd fans were crowing was paid by juve. But every single year while raiola agitated for moves utd were paying him 3.3million. It is also known that pogba got utd to pay his own 2.2mil bill to raiola. He got paid 3 ways in that deal. If anything said serious changes to the rules are required this does.
Any rule change will be quickly circumvented by the agents. It's up to the clubs and god forbid maybe the players to stop it. I want 30million for brokering the deal, err no. While the clubs are happy to pay, the agent will always exist.
I agree they will seek to circumvent but the only means to regulate is by authorities. No registrations for players of agents breaking rules would quickly put them in line. You are quite right that lazy clubs seeking to offload unwanted players pay agents to do "something" heaven forfend that they would transfer list a player or make it known themselves Having agents block player transfers wanting some payment or other seems to be to be tantamount to extortion. The pogba deal for example would seem to be the player not signing till the agent gets a slice just for existing. Such payments should be made illegal.
There is no argument against the fact that they are a blight on football. But football finances are murky to say the least. I'd struggle to see how any willing payment from one party to an other could be made illegal and enforced. It's not just football that have parasites living from others work. Plenty of business have your "middlemen" that help grease the wheels. Everyone uses them because they are terrified they will fall behind if they stop.
You are most likely correct unless there is some means to tie the player registration into the system where all payments are logged and agents can only be paid by the player. They should have no part in greasing wheels between clubs? Surely the registration is equally down to the authorities and if a player cannot register then they cannot register and change would be forced. In general if haaland wants the biggest spiv in world football to do his deal and expect 30 or 40million then he will also have to expect to be playing for a spiv club and could end up like pogba who was a 4 time title winner who needed up doing very little else on a club level since. Surely it's best for the player to drive his career or at least through a group of advisors and leave the agent to commerical off the field image deals. I believe messi does quite well shifting his club and making money everywhere on everything. Family run media there. It strikes me that signing up to an agency that will shaft you to make the best return is a recipe to have a sub par career.
Having done a quick search it appears HMRC are'nt happy with present arrangements and are starting to take a closer look at the amounts claimed https://www.saffery.com/news-and-ev...ce-football-and-payments-to-agents-april-2021
I think once it becomes about the money, a fair degree of players are ****ed any way. If your more interested in what wage, bonus or fee your getting than trophies, then your will to win is already eroded and you end up with pogba, gets paid come what may, knows he's got another big payday on the way when he leaves utd so only plays when it suits him. Messi & Ronaldo have consistently worked to be the best at what they do and the money has followed. Then look at neymadge, touted as the successor to those two, took the cash to play for psg, still well regarded but never going to lauded like messi
Only just seen this. I can't find my original post but I remember the conversation and the article I found the relevant information in. I can't seem to link the article but it is titled - Should players pay their own agents? It would cost Premium League clubs £166m a year! The conclusion to the article cites a) agents commission not being a deductible expense for players and b) clubs presumably preferring to pay the player's agent as a benefit to the player rather than provide more in gross salary to the player. So it is about tax but nothing to do with HMRC preferring it that way, the clubs and players prefer it that way.
so hang on, the uk government could make 166million in additional revenue but forcing players to pay their agents? clearly this is entirely desirable from a government perspective.
