FIFA investigates the investment fund set up by former Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon and controlled by Creative Artists Agency Inc and athlete management company, Gestifute SA., on violating the rules on transfer issues.
The fund, which has invested in the future transfer value of about 15 players, is controlled by Kenyon’s talent-agency employer Creative Artists Agency Inc. and another athlete management company, Gestifute SA. co-owned by agressive football agent Jorge Mendes. Some of the players involved are managed by Gestifute, whose most prominent client is Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Jose Maria Gay, a Barcelona University professor writes annual reports on soccer finance. He claims the arrangement may be a conflict of interest because Gestifute, who has transfer rights of almost every Portuguese players, could seek transfers for its clients that give the fund a greater return, according to Peter Kenyon the fund’s managers are “very conscious” not to influence trades, which would breach FIFA rules on footballer’s transfers.
FIFA to investigate dubious transfer deals in European Football involving Gestifute SA&Quality Football Ireland Limited
Although Kenyon states in various interviews that his fund has been aware of the ensuing conflict and managed that it on many occasions. “I’m confident that we’re operating within the guidelines of the football governing bodies and the financial bodies.” Kenyon added.
FIFA’s rules say clubs face disciplinary action, which could include a financial penalty or blocking their access to the new signings, if they give third parties the ability to influence transfers.
Los Angeles-based CAA, which represents actors including George Clooney, branched into sports in 2006, after prominent agent Jorge Mendes formed an alliance with Porto, Portugal-based Gestifute in 2008. They control the Dublin-based fund, Quality Football Ireland Ltd., through a parent company in Jersey in the English Channel.
The fund has raised money from more than 20 “high net worth individuals” since last year, Kenyon said, adding the minimum investment is $250,000. Typically, the fund’s managers buy a share in the future transfer rights of a player aged 18 to 23 from a team for $1 million and shares any profit when he is sold to another club.
Jorge Mendes : Is he the agent who owns the rights of players and financial future of several teams?
Gestifute and Jorge Mendes acquired the rights of players from Sporting Lisbon and Turkey’s Besiktas among other clubs, according to team filings.
FIFA can ban offending teams from the transfer market, block sales and suspend players and agents should third parties influence transfers. Gestifute, whose managing director is Jorge Mendes, is in such a position because it manages some of the players, and can influence transfer fees, according to Jose Maria Gay.
Gestifute is setting the market prices in European football and those are very very high. “It really raises questions about who is setting the market price,” Gay said.
Mendes brokered Ronaldo’s record $120 million move to Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009. Gestifute executive Luis Correia declined to comment or make Mendes, his uncle, available.
Jorge Mendes’s career shows “he hasn’t made money by moving players on,” Kenyon said. “If you look at his roster, he’s developed players in conjunction with” their clubs, Kenyon added. Ronaldo spent six years at Manchester United before joining Real. The fund doesn’t own a share in Ronaldo’s transfer rights.
The dealing of Jose Mendes and his relations with Quality Football Ireland Limited was made public by NationalTurk earlier this year, after Jorge Mendes practically sold half of Portuguese National Team to Turkish side Besiktas JK in lucrative deals for his agency, which put the Turkish team’s finacial future in jeopardy.
As some evidence indicate Quality Football Ireland Limited’s shares are owned by another sports agency. The prominent company’s name is more popular than ever. CAA Sports. Among the clients of American agency giants CAA Sports are very big names like Lebron James, David Beckham.
CAA Sports attempts now to be important player in the lucrative European fooballer’s transfer market and therefore signed a partnership with Gestifute, which leads us to a well-known name and a rising star among all other european managers, Jorge Mendes.
Jorge Mendes is a popular name in the European football, and his power and influence on the game is rising rapidly. Among his most prominent clients are Real Madrid star Christiano Ronaldo and manager Jose Mourinho.
Cristiano Ronaldo: The most lucrative project of Gestifute ?
The English Premier League banned third-party ownership of transfer rights after it complicated Argentina forward Carlos Tevez’s 2007 move to Manchester United. In Portugal, Turkey and Spain such ownership is becoming more common as banks rein in credit and clubs struggle to raise funds, Gay said.
Jorge Mendes obviously seized the oppurtunity and made Besiktas Istanbul from Turkey one of his ”best” clients.
It’s potentially lucrative: Ronaldo’s fee increased six- fold in the six years through 2009. At the same time, it’s a “high risk” strategy because players get injured or lose form, Gregor Reiter, director of the German players’ agent association, said.
Besiktas young talents Muhammed Demirci, Necip Uysal, Atınc Nukan are footballers, whose rights were obtained by Mendes run Gestifute, as Besiktas chairman Yildirim Demiroren needs more and more funding for the big signings of Almeide, Simao Sabrosa etc. Besiktas can face a threat of transfer ban apllied by FIFA.
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