Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs has slammed players' agents for fueling the mercenary nature of football transfers.Giggs' comments come on the heels of the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer saga. When agents for players stand to make a killing themselves, it is hard to deny the conflict of interest. Assuming Ronaldo goes to Real Madrid for the reported £70 million, then Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes will make about 15% or £10 million or so, not to mention the continued cut of Ronaldo's imaging rights, endorsement deals, etc.
Giggs said: "Many players want to make as much money as they can and change teams for ten grand.
"How is that going to make much difference to their lives? Foreign players always have their home somewhere else, so they are going to have their eyes on going back."
The Welshman added: "If you get those players on their own they are good lads.
"So a lot of the blame has to go on their advisors and agents who make a lot of money out of these deals and don't have the interests of the player at heart."
Of course, football is not the only sport dealing with such pressures. Here in teh U.S. American football, basketball and baseball mega deals can make the agents very, very rich men.
The question of course is not whether such deals are good for the players (financially they are, but who is taking care that they don't blow the money) or the agents. But I think Giggs might be getting at the real question--is it good for the game.
This coming from a man who has made a record 759 appearences for the Red Devils and has been with the club for 18 years.
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