February 2 – With transfer fees having crashed through the roof once again in January, one of the unknown factors is just how much went to agents.
While fans invariably learn how much players are sold for, they never hear about the minutiae of individual deals and the amounts the intermediaries pocket.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino says he is “very concerned” about how much is “flowing out of the football industry” in agents’ fees.
“The commissions paid to intermediaries continue to rise while at the same time the money redistributed through the game and spent on training young players is falling,” says Infantino.
“These increasingly larger transactions are often not done in a clean, open manner and raise a lot of questions about potential misuse of funds. We have to tackle this issue.”
Alexis Sánchez’s agent, Fernando Felicevich, has declined to comment on reports that he was asking for a staggering £15 million fee himself for Sanchez to move from Arsenal to Manchester United.
Infantino declined to comment directly on Premier League transfer spending, which eclipsed all other leagues, but said: “I want objective calculations and payments that all go through a central clearing house where both the intermediaries’ commissions, transfer fees and training compensations are handled.”
“There is now a momentum, because more and more stakeholders realise that the situation is no longer sustainable. We have initiated a process with the main football stakeholders to review the transfer system and hopefully we can convince the confederations, the leagues, the players’ unions and the clubs that this is the right way.”
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