There is one reason why United were right not to buy Haaland – Mino Raiola
said there had to be a line in the sand with the deal.
A few years ago, Liverpool’s sporting director, Michael Edwards, told me there was no more important relationship in his role than that between the club and the players’ agents. A falling-out can deprive you of one of your most valuable assets, or rule you out of the race for the next prime target.
Managers have never had to be so careful about keeping their biggest stars’ agents onside, otherwise there are negative repercussions, and Solskjaer has been desperate not to inflame the situation with Raiola in public.
Fans demand loyalty to the club from their stars but many elite players’ most important footballing commitment is to their representative. Ask Pogba what means more: a manager he may be working with for only a few months or the agent who will look after him for his whole career?
I do not want this to sound like a tirade against all agents, who are indispensable to modern players. When I broke into the Liverpool
Whoever signed Haaland knew they were inviting the Mino Raiola circus into town
team I employed one of my own, who is still my representative. As a youngster I had no idea what kind of contract I should have. I needed specialist advice.
Just as managers, owners and chief executives approach their job in a different way, so do agents, so you cannot tar all with the same brush.
My view is you can usually tell which agents have their players’ best interests at heart – because generally they have no public profile. Mine would never speak to the media about my contract or criticise Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez. If he had, I would have sacked him.
Raiola likes to be seen and heard, and you cannot argue with the financial results. He is not likeable, but he is successful. He has proven to be one of the best around at maximising the value of his clients. The flip side of that is that he provokes negative headlines.
Those who choose to work with him – Jesse Lingard is the most recent – evidently believe that is a price worth paying. I struggle with that. I find it staggering that a player would sign up with an agent so openly critical of his club’s manager.
The world has changed and the clubs appear powerless to stop it. I was staying in the same London hotel as United on Sunday before their game with Chelsea, and I was surprised to see players having a coffee with three or four members of their entourage. You never used to see that on the eve of a match – those close to you knew they had to stay away.
Where once you might have one adviser to assist with contract talks, now some of the top players have their own “team”, including family members and childhood friends. Players are the prime asset in a business independent from their clubs, with individual sponsors and investments to pursue.
In the past three years, more than £645 million has been paid to representatives of Premier League players, and well over £1 billion during the past decade.
In a week when Manchester City’s owners are being castigated after ploughing billions into football – independent of the debate about whether they broke rules – you cannot help but think the game’s governing bodies may have their priorities skewed and they should be focusing more on those who are taking billions out of it.
Raiola reportedly received £20 million when he negotiated Pogba’s return to United from Juventus in 2016. Against that background – and given what has happened since – you have to sympathise with Woodward when trying to strike a deal for Haaland, knowing Raiola was guaranteed to cash in again.
I cannot help but think that if Haaland was represented by someone else, he might be at Old Trafford.
Just because Haaland looks like he is the bargain of the century for Dortmund, it does not mean the cost of signing him was a price worth paying for United.