Hello everyone and welcome to Soccer 101. My name is Joe Lowry, and on this episode, we're going to talk about some of the most powerful figures in soccer. That's right, we're here to talk about agents. More specifically, we're here to talk about some of the most powerful figures in soccer. That's right, we're here to talk

about agents. More specifically, we're here to talk about super agents. Just to clarify up front,

superagents aren't just agents who wear their underwear on the outside of their pants.

They also don't have awesome superhero names like Captain Transfer or The Negotiator, although that would be

really, really cool. No, a super agent is just a regular person like you and me, but they're a

regular person with an incredible amount of influence on the business side of modern soccer.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I think it's important to define what an agent is.

So strap in everybody, it's time for Agent 101.

Yes, there will be a quiz.

What's an agent?

Well, in soccer, a basic definition of an agent is someone who represents a player and

negotiates things on the player's behalf.

Most often, the big business moves that agents make have to do with transfers.

You could also toss endorsement deals into the category of big business moves,

but I'm going to keep our focus on transfers,

since those tend to impact the soccer world in a deeper way than Michael Bradley signing a deal with Puma.

It's not that I don't love Puma's

forever faster line of boots, but actually, you know what, I don't need to justify my actions

here. I'm the one teaching this class. Let's carry on. Agents act as intermediaries. They're the

links between players and clubs. They're also the negotiators responsible for trying to get the best

deal on behalf of their client and themselves.

It's in the agent's best interest to try to maximize their client's income because they'll usually get a cut of whatever is being negotiated.

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