A couple of months ago I read an article about how Donnarumma had been dreaming about playing for AC Milan since he was a kid. How the club brought him up and turned him into what he is today.

A couple of weeks ago I read an article about Donnarummas agent M Raiola, and how AC Milan despised him.

Today I read about Donnarumma deciding not to sign a new deal and extend his contract.

I am in no way a AC Milan fan but I can't help but being disgusted by the way these agents are destroying the football of today. It is all turned into a subject of money, and the loyalty to the club is totally destroyed. We no longere see the likes of Totti, Raul, Puyol, Gerrard who cherish the team and let's the heart and passion do the talk.

I also suffer with croatian fans that had to deal with the likes of Z Mamic... and let's not forget J Mendes!

This does also hit on us fans, because the actions of these agents triggers up the prices of players to insane sums. Money the clubs need to get from somewhere... Yes you got it... from mainly us fans!

We need to get rid of this poison called "agent"... that has absolutely no place in football. If a player wants an agent HE should pay his fees and salary... not the clubs.

FT is not a big community but please spread the word: Enough is enough! There is no place for agents in football!

@Sun Now your just being stingy Sun. :P But joking aside, if we listen to what you say, most player should just go to China where they would get crazy wage. :P

I don't know what you do for work, but if you got an offer that increased your current wage by millions of dollars but you had to work in China, you'd probably take it. All I ask is that you have the option, and that option is what agents procure. They're not forcing players to move, just giving them multiple decisions, some of which have more monetary reward than others. What the player picks is ultimately up to them.

I also suffer with croatian fans that had to deal with the likes of Z Mamic.

Mamic, Mendes, Raiola are all money-grabbing whores. Donnarumma probably won't ruin his career (he has so much talent he can be starter in almost any team in the world), but stuff like this can seriously endanger careers. Same happened with Odegaard, Halilovic, Mastour and other ones who got influenced by money and other people.

How is Donnarumma doing a bad thing if he goes to Real Madrid and becomes the next stable long term goalkeeper there?
It's actually the best move he can make if you see it from the players point of view, AC Milan is not what it used to be and Italian teams can't compete in terms for sallary and wages with spanish and english clubs.

@Sunflash I'm unemployed as of now. :( But I understand what you mean of course, its just that if you read what Donnaruma said before, he really seemed set to renew his contract. Thats why it is so annoying, especially for me who would love to see AC Milan becoming the great club they once were. Otherwise, I kinda hope he stay in europe, because it mean I will be able to see him play. :)

@Golazo Well, it isn't a bad thing at all. I could actually be great if he somehow became the Italian Cassillas. What worry's me if what happen if he does come to Real and have a poor season there? What then? Does he get replaced by De Gea? And then what? Will Real sell him? Or keep him as their second keeper? To be fair, I do believe he is one of the best keeper his age but are we sure Donnaruma could really start every game for a team like Real? I'm ain't convinced yet, maybe time will prove me wrong. I hope it does at least. :)

Agents can be manipulative just as much as parents , club and friends . In that sense I think agents can have a lot of control over the player's decisions to manipulate them for their own benefit . Those footballers aren't the brightest of the bunch more often than not .

Balotelli Made a big mistake by moving to EPL just like many other Seria A strikers before him . Plus , out of all the clubs he chooses City ( Raiolas work ) , under Maldini on top with U.K. Media . Young Balotelli should have stayed in Seria A and continue his development with familiar people around him . That moves thaught me few things . Raiola is manipulative c@nt who ruined his own cash cow . He disregards profile or style of his player and to him short term money is priority . He disregarded that his player is young , still in development process , needs discipline, and right environment . That shows that agents can be very selfish which is expected but also tells me that that they can do dumb moves to exploit player for short term personal gain .

Balotelli is rich and could have been richer with better stance in football career but did You know after retirement most players become broke faster than they got rich ? Yep . Let's see what happens to Mario when he runs out of money .

And soccer is just that, a business. Let the workers maximize their income. Jesus Christ.

Maximizing the income unfortunately blinds a lot of people, but what really matters is the net income/profit, which includes expenses. Further, football is supposed to be passion, not "just business". Something fans should be able to enjoy without having to pay obnoxious prices, because ultimately they are the ones who pay the salaries. Few parts involved contribute to this negative trend as agents do today imo.

Yeah, agents are pushing the market up. Because that means their clients (the players) make more money...

Agents pushing up the market is not a consequence of the players making more money! It is a main cause (and as such it is bad) of the prices and transfer fees stampeding... and THE consequences of this is more greed, much higher prices for regular people , less passion etc etc.

If an agent is to represent the player in front of a club, he is free to do so. But the agent per se has no business with the club. If he wants to make business regarding his own share, than the business is with the player, not the club.

The club should buy a player for a negotiated value of x. Not x + y to the agent. The market decides the price, yes, but we keep seeing prices way above the market price all the time.

"Fifa investigates Paul Pogba's £89m move to Manchester United after claims agent will make £41m in fees"

If this will turn out to be true... are these kind of fees (and ratios) reasonable?

...if it's more than 5-10%, I'd be shocked. Without agents, it'd be way below 1%.

I'm not talking about the size of the portions relative to the total generation of money. The fee of the agents is an expenditure that is increasing exponentially (or at least not linearly). I'm talking about the pace at which things are changing (and not for the better).

@Golazo: It is not necessarily bad for Donnarumma. But it is bad for football, and us fans.

less passion etc etc...It is not necessarily bad for Donnarumma. But it is bad for football, and us fans.

Well there you go, answered your own question. If I were to slave away at my current company for a less-than-competitive wage, everyone benefits with one exception - the company operates more efficiently, the customers get their yearned after product, and there is only one loser in this equation. Me.

Stop treating players like you own them. They have a right as much as anyone else to benefit from their talents. If you ever listen to older players (from any sport really) they always remark about how today's stars don't "love" the game the way that they did. In Yogi Berra's biography, he says that it's tough to measure passion, but he reckons the players of his day had more of it cause bricklaying was really shitty and that's what he had to do in the summer to stay financially viable. And that's true. But it doesn't mean it's wrong.

I'm not talking about the size of the portions relative to the total generation of money. The fee of the agents is an expenditure that is increasing exponentially (or at least not linearly). I'm talking about the pace at which things are changing (and not for the better).

That last part is not very objective, but to say that money influx into this sport as a whole is increasing linearly would be laughable. The notion that Lukaku or Morata might go for 80 mil considering what Bale/Ronaldo went for in the last decade is incredible, and two decades ago Zidane was on the move for what it takes to buy Sterling.

I will agree with you on one count only - the idea that some agents are benefiting at a rate that exceeds the player (e.g. 41 mil in agent fees). The second the agent makes more than his client from a transaction, something is wrong. But you have to understand that bashing the profession as a whole gets us nowhere. It is akin to seeing a single referee error and arguing for the elimination of officiating. It makes no sense.

Attack the problem as an isolated incident if it remains one. There are agents who appear to be taking advantage of rules with their legal know-how to manipulate situation for their personal gain in which the player has no share. Stop that - yes. But don't nark the profession as a whole.

It is not necessarily bad for Donnarumma.

If you say one day you love your life here, you're looking forward to buy here a new house how you love the club and next day you suddenly say: I won't sign new deal, that's bad image for him..

People can say whatever they want, it's what they do that matters.
Totti could have said the same things about how Rome is his home but if he had signed for Real Madrid or Chelsea his career wouldn't be seen as it is today.

Donnarumma doesn't have a big image yet he is a huge talent that is only 18 years old, if AC Milan of today was a great team with big names people would:

Accept his decision
Waited for a big transfer fee
Moved on and search for a replacement

But because he is a big hope for the team people expect that he will be a saviour so he refusing to sign a new contract is a big drama.

They have a right as much as anyone else to benefit from their talents.

I never questioned the players right to earn good money, even if it is with an agent. I question the ways of the agents...

It is akin to seeing a single referee error and arguing for the elimination of officiating. It makes no sense.

It makes no sense because your analogy is poor and there are few relevant similarities between the professions. But I'll also give you a "bad" analogy to your reply... Does a bus driver get himself an "agent" to get more money from the company that is to hire him? Well you might argue that there are labor unions to help the likes of him, but there such unions representing (professional) football players too. Hence, agents are somewhat superfluous.

Remember Bosman? No agent helped him, but the international football players’ union did. And look what impact the judgement had for the players and their rights. But in its wake agents exploit the situation and are quick to suck out every possible penny, i.e. leech on the sport. The players associations don't demand that extra "ten" percent that are taken out of the game. Agents do.

So yes as a profession within the world of football I don't see how this wonderful sport benefits from their actions. And as such I don't see them fitting in.

@quickzzzy: Bad for the image probably, but someone convinced him it's good for his wallet.

It makes no sense because your analogy is poor and there are few relevant similarities between the professions. But I'll also give you a "bad" analogy to your reply... Does a bus driver get himself an "agent" to get more money from the company that is to hire him? Well you might argue that there are labor unions to help the likes of him, but there such unions representing (professional) football players too. Hence, agents are somewhat superfluous.

A better analogy is that if said bus driver felt he was wronged by his company in terms of wage or some other benefit, would he trust his union, or would he hire a personal lawyer? Sure, the union is helpful, but it isn't personalized or specialized to deal with a specific issue.

Players have the money (or theoretical money) to use said personal lawyer, and they do. If I was in their position I would do the same. You may as well be arguing for the end of lawyers, it's the same point.

@Sunflash But Donnaruma never seemed to have said he was wronged by AC Milan. The reason why the contract didn't work was that the release clause was too high in Raiola opinion. Your talking like Donnaruma had a problem with Milan but from what we seen, he actually seem to had zero problem with them while Mino clearly had some. Not saying your making a bad point but I feel like it would be more convincing if the player himself wouldn't have agreed with the deal. However, in this case, it look like Raiola was the deciding factor in the whole deal failling. :(

@Emo

If it was Raiola's fault that he was able to procure contracts for Donnaruma from other clubs that greatly exceeded what Milan was offering, yeah - it was his fault. Explain to me why that's bad. If Donnaruma is worth that additional money, Milan was shorting him, and that's likely why he refused the contract.

@Sunflash From what I seem to understand, Donnaruma was fine with the contract, the only problem was the release clause. And it was a problem for Raiola mostly, but it might not be true, that just what was released. Never heard about contracts from other club either but that might just be a lack of research of my part. Also, I don't think Milan wouldn't have been willing to give nearly everything they could to Donnaruma. They should have enough to convince him to stay thanks to their recent gain in ressource as well. Thats why it feel like such a shame. :(

Sad for an 18 years old world talent.

@quikzyyy The last kiss as the media are dubbing it. :(

Milan director Mirabelli:

"We wanted to make Donnarumma a symbol of Milan for our fans & Gigio had everything required for that role. He would’ve had the captain’s armband & it's an enormous offer, considering his young age and Milan’s situation: €25m net over 5 years means €50m gross for the club."

That's around 160k+/week, it would have made him 2nd highest paid GK in the world, behind De Gea.

Also Milan has decided the will turn dow every bid for Donnarumma this season.