According to an article on The Daily Telegraph website, worried Premier League sides are set to attack Wolves over their close relationship with super agent Jorge Mendes.
This relationship between a soon-to-be-promoted Wolves and Portuguese agent Mendes is a situation that has already been broached this season. After suffering a home defeat against a star-studded Wolves side at Elland Road, Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani questioned the legitimacy of what Wolves were operating under when it came to player purchases.
Radrizzani’s Twitter rant garnered a lot of reaction, both negative and positive, but it did force the Football League to speak to Wolves about the formal hook-up. Now that hook-up, with Wolves being just two points from guaranteed promotion, is one that is worrying the high-power clubs in England’s top-tier completion.
The Telegraph go on record to say “several top-flight teams want to discuss Mendes’ business links to Wolves owners Fosun” when clubs meet for their quarterly shareholder meeting today. Members of the ‘Big Six’ clubs, such as Chelsea and Manchester United, are joined in their worry by smaller clubs that Mendes’ relationship with the Black Country club could give them undue leverage in the transfer market.
The crux of the issue at hand seems to be that Wolves’ owners, Fosun International, took over the Midlands club in July 2016 – months after a subsidiary company bought a 20% stake in Mendes’ Gestifute agency. This link, argue critics, has led to Wolves signing players such as the Mendes-represented Ruben Neves – a £15 million Championship record capture. Also signed was manager Nuno Espirito Santo, another of the Portuguese agent’s clients.
Many point out that his influence might also be at hand when it comes to players such as Willy Boly and Diogo Jota joining on season-long loan deals from FC Porto and Atletico Madrid respectively. The problem for the Premier League sides is that what Wolves are doing is not against any of the current laws or by-laws of football.
However, a Telegraph source says that there’s “a feeling it needs to be addressed,” a feeling that could lead to one particular option for the worried Premier League sides. The 20 teams could close shop further and attempt to introduce some form of by-law or regulation that outlaws what the Telegraph terms “the kind of shareholding Fosun’s subsidiary holds in Gestifute.”
