Mention of agents around football supporters generally does not end well, with many feeling they interfere too much in the lives of the players they represent. Mention super-agents, such as Jorge Mendes, and that feeling only intensifies. They're seen as opportunists and entrepreneurs who have used business nous to take billions out of the game to line their pockets with.
And yet, as money continues to talk with more and more volume within the beautiful game, agents unsurprisingly gain more power. So much so that someone like Mendes has been able to get his claws into a series of clubs around Europe, the latest of which being Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Wolves have secured promotion back to the Premier League following a six-year absence which saw them drop all the way down to League One, but their ascent has not been without controversy. Backed by Chinese millions, Mendes — who represents Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho, among others — has acted as an advisor to the club’s owners on player transfers, and the Molineux outfit are reaping the benefits. For now.
Since the Fosun conglomerate took over Wolves in 2016 they have twice broken the Championship’s transfer record, with Helder Costa arriving for £13 million from Monaco in January before Ruben Neves — the youngest captain in Champions League history and full Portugal international — bought from Porto for a fee of £15.8m. Both are clients of Mendes.
Others such as Ivan Cavaleiro, star man Diogo Jota and manager Nuno Espirito Santo are represented by Mendes's business, Gestifute, though his name rarely, if ever, appears on the transfer paperwork. It would be illegal for an outside influence such as an agent to manage transfer policy on an official basis, but there is no doubt Mendes has been able to coax both the club and the players to come together.
Next Match
"Jorge Mendes is not in charge of the recruitment of this club," managing director Laurie Dalrymple said in June last year. "He can't be. That is point one. It is not within the rules.
"However, is he a known associate of the owners? Yes, he is. He is a friend and he has been for some time. There has never been any secret about that. We have a team who look at players from any number of sources, including Jorge and Gestifute.”
Some cynics claimed Mendes was using Wolves as a shop window for some of his players to prove themselves in the English game before being tempted away by the Premier League's millions. That may well be the case, but for the time being the good times are being brought back to a club that suffered back-to-back relegations in 2012 and 2013.
Getty Images
Attendances at Molineux have not been as big for almost 40 years, and just a point is now required for Nuno's side to be confirmed as champions.
For all the adulation, however, there is trepidation. While Mendes's involvement seems to have not broken any laws as yet, there is the risk that one false move could land him and the club in piping hot water. Fans have also expressed concern at potential Financial Fair Play implications, though the money earned through promotion could potentially offset some of the club’s outgoings.
There is also the worry that all the star names Mendes has facilitated bringing to the club will jump ship at the first sign of more money elsewhere and Wolves will quickly become a revolving door for foreign imports. Neves has already been linked with Liverpool, and he is unlikely to be the last to feature in the newspaper gossip columns during the summer window. As such, they could lack the consistency of culture or selection to make a real go of trying to reintroduce themselves at the top table of the English game.
Whether Wolves's very different approach to spending big in a bid for success can see them one day challenge for honours in the top-flight again remains an unanswered question, but things are certainly on the up. And, however the story ends, no doubt Mendes will walk away an even richer man than he was before.