Jorge Mendes, power broker behind football's elite

Nearly 20 years ago, in his nightclub in the windy northern Portuguese coastal town of Caminha, Jorge Mendes became a football agent. Using his only assets - charm and a modest career as a semi-professional player - he befriended local goalkeeper Nuno Espirito Santo. The encounter proved life-changing. Mr Mendes became Nuno's agent, and placed him at Deportivo La Coruna, a northwestern Spanish club.

"Jorge never took a cent from me, although we'd agreed he'd get a bonus," said Nuno. "He tore up the cheque under my eyes, saying he'd never cash it." Other Portuguese and Spanish footballers began visiting the nightclub. Mr Mendes began negotiating their transfers.

The dapper Portuguese, though unknown to most fans, is now probably football's most powerful agent. He can earn millions in an afternoon. A defining image of this summer's transfer market came from Monaco's stadium: Mr Mendes, in his standard dark suit plus sunglasses, sitting with Radamel Falcao, using one of his many mobile phones to arrange the loan of the Colombian striker from Monaco to Manchester United. He also handled two of the summer's three biggest transfers: Angel Di Maria's from Real Madrid to United, and James Rodriguez's from Monaco to Real Madrid.

This summer he was involved in transfers worth more than €250m. His clients' market value tops €500m. The story of his rise reveals the power of agents in an inefficient, relationship-based but increasingly lucrative transfer market. By representing both coaches and players, and dealing chiefly with particular elite clubs, he can help determine where the best players play. It is an unusual amount of power to bundle into one very discreet man.

It is all a long way from the rundown Lisbon industrial district where Mr Mendes, 48, grew up. His father worked in a gas and oil plant; his mother wove straw hats and baskets, which he sold on the beach. He also proved an excellent salesman at Lisbon's flea market. Friends remember his impressively filled albums of football stickers.

He moved to northern Portugal at 20, earning more from his video rental store than as a footballer. "I was not a great player," he admits. He quit the game aged 30. By then he had already bought his nightclub.

In 2003-04 his career as an agent took off - partly a matter of right place, right time. He had long courted teen talents, and in 2003 one of his stable, Cristiano Ronaldo, attracted Manchester United. Together they flew to meet the team's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. Ronaldo, who then spoke no English, recalled: "Mendes explained to me that Ferguson wanted me to stay in Manchester. I was shocked and nervous."

Like many players, Ronaldo came to regard his agent as almost family. Everyone wants a piece of a footballer, and the agent, though he also wants a piece, acts as gatekeeper. "I trust him completely. I'd feel happy to put everything I have in his hands," says Ronaldo,

Few have Mr Mendes's reputation for pastoral care. From investments to healthcare, he and his staff at his agency, Gestifute, manage their clients' lives. Sir Alex calls him "the best agent I dealt with, without a doubt. He was responsible, looked after his players to an incredible extent and was very fair with clubs."

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It is a powerful network. Mr Mourinho, now back at Chelsea, has often signed players from his own agent's stable: most recently Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid. And Mr Mendes's very first client, Nuno, this summer became coach of Valencia. Players represented by Gestifute soon joined the club.

Clubs often accuse agents of manipulating players, but privately many seek out Mr Mendes. Tor-Kristian Karlsen, Monaco's former sporting director, says: "He's charismatic, good company and can connect with people at any level." He is also "well-dressed, a gentleman" - significant in a world where fine suits and good looks matter. Most importantly, he controls the game's essential commodity: talent. No club official can match his network.

He works ceaselessly - often travelling with his wife, Sandra, who works for Gestifute and with whom he has three children in addition to two daughters from an earlier marriage. He says he can spend 20 hours a day on the phone. "I think he has four telephones - at least the ones he's put on the table," says Roberto Branco Martins of the European Football Agents Association.

The agent's impact on the Portuguese league is outsize. He uses Portugal as an entry point to Europe for South American players: Falcao, Rodriguez, Di Maria and Costa have all passed through. Thanks partly to Mr Mendes, two clubs from the small impoverished country, Benfica and Porto, rank in Europe's top 11.

Sometimes his machinations fail. This summer he and Ronaldo seemed to lobby Real Madrid to sign Falcao. The Colombian even tweeted "#HalaMadrid", a nod to the fans' chant. Yet Madrid resisted.

No matter: football's economic expansion keeps enriching Mr Mendes. This summer Europe's five biggest leagues spent more than £1.8bn on transfers - a record. His players earn growing sums from endorsements. Mike Forde, founder of New York-based sports consultancy Ingenio Management, says: "What Jorge Mendes has done is connect the parochial world of football to the commercial world. He has professionalised talent management."

You could call him the invisible hand of the transfer market.

Simon Kuper is an FT columnist based in Paris, and co-author of 'Soccernomics'. Peter Wise is the FT correspondent in Portugal

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