Dealing With The Devil
Managers are deceptive, players are demanding, but there is only one group of individuals that can be equated to devils in the footballing world - money hungry agents.
It all started a week ago, when I asked Gian Nicola Biscotti to visit Lille, France, to discuss terms with Lucas Digne, after we had agreed a £2.1 Million deal for him. Biscotti was my choice of negotiator because of his excellent man management skills. This was his first job after joining the club, and the prospect of agreeing a deal with the French youngster seemed easy enough. He was extremely interested in joining the club and wouldn't require a huge wage rise. Before he left, I reminded the coach that I trusted his decision and he should only contact me when the left-back had accepted our contract offer.
Just about six hours after he left the club office, I get a text message from him, saying, "Done with the Digne deal. Success! I'm on my way to Marseille, boss." Because I was busy with practice, I didn't notice the message until two hours later. He was supposed to be going to Lille, and that is it. Those two cities were on the opposite sides of France and I had not sanctioned a vacation. I attempted to call him and after two unsuccessful attempts, he started the conversation with "You must come here immediately."
After enquiring more, he was finally able to explain that he had discovered that a player we were monitoring would be available, albeit expensive, for a minimum of £24 Million. Cesar Aspilicueta, the Marseille first-choice right back, had expressed a desire to move to a bigger club and challenge for the Champions League, but his club managed to pacify him for the moment by promising him that the club will move forward. Of course, if there was an offer by a club like Manchester United, who are regularly reaching the latter stages of the Champions League, he would be demanding a transfer request, without doubt!
"You are already in Marseille, Gian. You expect me to drop everything here and just travel to France..and for what?"
This is Manchester United - arguably the biggest club in Europe. The coaches here are more famous and respected than most of the top managers around the world, and Biscotti needed me to help him out with a transfer from an equally professional Olympique Marseille? To be honest, I wasn't too happy about it all, but I soon realized my coach had done more than expected of him. To avoid attracting the attention of clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool, who were rumoured to be interested in the player, Biscotti had "unofficially" talked to coaches and staff from Marseille about the exact amount required to sign the 21 year old defender. £24.5 Million was the "unofficial" transfer fee we would have to pay. Speaking to Elie Baup's assistant manager, Gian had also received the number of Cesar Azpilicueta's agent, Juan Lavin.
Lavin stated outright, "If you want my client to consider your contract offer, it needs to be face-to-face with the manager of the club."
"I will be there. You have done a lot already, but if you could organize the meeting and try and keep away from the press, that would be perfect.", I said to Biscotti. The training for the day was done, but my day was just getting started.
