Speaking of super agents in the football world, we will naturally think of several names, and I believe that in many people’s minds, the first person to think of is Jorge Mendes.
Over the years, Jorge Mendes is indispensable for heavy football transfers. From Cristiano Ronaldo to David de Gea, from Ángel Di María to Rúben Dias, and even coach José Mourinho, Jorge Mendes was behind these names.
Not only that, even Leclerc in F1 is his customer – interestingly, the Monegasque is also the driver of the F1 Ferrari team under the Agnelli family, and became the official driver of the team as confirmed by the current Juventus CEO Arivarbene during his tenure as Ferrari team leader.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s sudden departure from Juventus to return to Manchester United this time fully confirms this point: when top players want to transfer, they always want super agents like Jorge Mendes to participate.
[Starting from Juventus]
There were many narratives surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer. In different media and news sources, we cannot be sure when the Portuguese decided to leave the team.
Last season, Juventus once again succumbed to the Champions League. Since Cristiano Ronaldo joined, the performance of the old woman in the European competition has become worse.
The purpose of the club’s decision to introduce the superstar was very simple – already unmatched in the Italian domestic arena, they are eager to make a new breakthrough in the European war. After all, their last victory was in 1996.
In the summer of 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid, where he played for many years, and went to the Apennine Peninsula to start a new adventure. His arrival marked the start of a new era for Juventus.
This is naturally indispensable for Jorge Mendes’ participation. On the other hand, Juventus also quietly changed the original business model during this period. After experiencing the impact of the telephone door incident, it took a long time for the old woman to recover in Italian football. The club’s business strategy has also become more shrewd.
One person’s name has to be mentioned, and that is the current Inter Milan Sports Director Marotta.
During his tenure at Juventus, Juve chose to appoint Allegri, who was not fully favored at the time, as the team’s manager under the auspices of Marotta, and it was during this period that Juventus really started to become more competitive in European competition.
Whether it was at Juventus then or now at Inter Milan, Marotta’s operating strategy in the transfer market is based on shrewdness and pragmatism. With Allegri’s football philosophy, the team’s strength and record have begun to further improve.
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 should be a surprise for Juventus, but it has a domino effect. On the one hand, the Agnelli family sees the potential of brand value in the Portuguese, and Juventus’s business strategy was therefore changed.
In addition, they also believe that the careful calculations over the past few years cannot bring about qualitative changes in the true sense. But this is inconsistent with Marotta’s long-term thinking.
We don’t know if Allegri’s departure is directly related to Marotta’s departure, but Juventus’s era of living within their means and emphasizing cost performance is over. Bianconeri’s season also failed in the Champions League, and Allegri left.
However, in the following two seasons, whether it was under Sarri or Pirlo, the team’s record did not improve and even lost the Serie A title last season.
From the end of last season, with the departure of Marotta’s successor Paratic and the return of meritorious coach Allegri, this seems to indicate that Juventus seems to have the idea of adjusting its business strategy again.
[There were early signs of leaving the team, Jorge Mendes’ efforts were mainly behind the scenes]
It’s hard to believe that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t be touched by it.
For the Portuguese, choosing to play in Italy is to prove themselves on the one hand, and naturally to pursue more honors on the other.
Correspondingly, he did prove his excellence in Italian football, and even gave Juventus fans the feeling that “the Portuguese’s appearance means their 1-0 guarantee”, but he also realized that he seemed farther and farther away from his inner quest for glory after his team’s one key European slump – he didn’t even make last season’s Champions League best XI, while Messi took the lead with his sixth Ballon d’Or.
The initial time when Cristiano Ronaldo had the idea of leaving the team occurred at the end of last season, which coincided with the time when Juventus mentioned at the end of the last quarter was preparing to adjust personnel at the same time at the operational and competitive levels.
We cannot confirm what Juventus thinks about Cristiano Ronaldo after this adjustment. In reports in the last few days, both the media said they were disappointed with the Portuguese’s departure, and some news said that the club’s top executives were satisfied with his departure, which could reduce Juventus’ financial pressure.
Some media said that Jorge Mendes has been looking for a home for Cristiano Ronaldo in the past nearly four months. For a long time, neither he nor the player himself showed many signs in the public.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is very competitive, naturally hopes to win. But at that time, we never thought that the summer transfer window would become so crazy under the background that the impact of the pandemic has not been eliminated.
According to popular media reports, Jorge Mendes contacted many clubs this summer, including Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. Judging from the performance of these potential clubs in this transfer window, they do indeed have the financial resources to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
The related rumors are not groundless – Real Madrid adjusted their defense this summer, Ramos and Varane’s main central defenders both left the team, but at the same time they have also offered a very high transfer fee for Kylian Mbappé in recent days.
Manchester City bought Glarish at a high price this summer, and has been working hard to pursue Kane for a long time; Chelsea introduced Lukaku at a high price. Judging from the operation of selling players such as Abraham and Tomori, they still seem to have some room for signings.
Allegedly, Jorge Mendes’ communication with these clubs is informal, but it seems that things didn’t go well at the beginning. Cristiano Ronaldo’s weekly salary is a big burden for any club, not to mention his contract status means that the club has to pay a potentially expensive transfer fee.
However, the turning point came when Harry Kane announced his stay in the team after seeking to leave Tottenham unsuccessfully.
It can be said that Jorge Mendes is the top hunter in the transfer market. In the face of his favorite prey, he is good at watching and waiting, seizing the right time, and then making a fatal blow.
Pep Guardiola has always hoped to be able to introduce a true center forward. At the beginning of this transfer window, people generally believed that Kane was already in the blue moon’s pocket – everything was just a matter of time.
However, they rushed for nothing. Jorge Mendes took this opportunity to promote Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester City. For a while, it was rumored that the Portuguese would return to Manchester – but this time it changed a color, which is the blue side of this industrial city.
From this moment on, people suddenly realized that the Portuguese might really be leaving Juventus-this time it was a real move.
[Jorge Mendes probably did it like this]
In a very short period of time, Cristiano Ronaldo’s possible destination was changed from Manchester City to Manchester United, where he once played.
Although Jorge Mendes has had informal contacts with many clubs in private, from a report by The Athletic, it seems that Jorge Mendes has another purpose behind a series of operations – he wanted to promote Cristiano from the beginning to return to Manchester United. It is reported that Cristiano Ronaldo has always hoped to return to England to play.
There are rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo actually had the idea of leaving the team a year ago, when Jorge Mendes was in contact with Paris Saint-Germain. It’s just that Lionel Messi tried to trigger the leave clause in his contract with Barcelona at this stage last year, and Paris Saint-Germain became his potential next home. In the end, everything was left unresolved.
We might as well make the assumption that all Jorge Mendes’ actions this summer are to promote Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United.
So what does this mean?
It needs to be emphasized again that the following part of the content is based on assumptions. It is reasonable to a certain extent, but there is insufficient evidence to show that everything is like this. Due to the limited information available, we can only analyze what may have happened.
In the beginning, it seemed that Cristiano Ronaldo was going to stay on the team, even after Lyon eliminated Juventus, after Allegri became the team coach again. The news we can see is that Juventus is optimistic about Cristiano Ronaldo staying in the club, at least cautiously optimistic.
But what is surging is that Jorge Mendes has already begun his actions.
There is such a possibility: Jorge Mendes started informal contact with some clubs at the beginning of the transfer window, the purpose of which is to spread the news that Cristiano Ronaldo was eager to leave the team, at least to let the Red Devils know.
This seems to be somewhat of a conspiracy theory, but at the end of the day, there must be some discrepancy between what the public can learn about the transfer market and the people involved.
However, for a star at the level of Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the major factors preventing him from leaving the team is the potential transfer fee and huge salary – this will not only affect the financial situation of the club, but also make it unable to meet the requirements of FFP, and even affect it. The salary structure of the team has an adverse effect on the atmosphere of the team and further aggravates the salary cost of the club.
But this seems to be a weight that Jorge Mendes can use. This means that no matter how coveted Cristiano Ronaldo looks, in the context of clubs tending to tighten money under the pandemic, the introduction of such a player means a huge risk.
Lionel Messi has similar problems. And Cristiano Ronaldo’s situation also began to change when Messi left Barcelona and joined Paris Saint-Germain.
For Lionel Messi’s joining, even though Paris Saint-Germain is financially rich, the club still has to consider the cost of introducing Messi. The free joining and commercial value of the Argentines have reduced the cost that the club has to bear to a certain extent.
This is probably what Jorge Mendes hopes to see most.
More than 10 days ago, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti dispelled rumors on social media that he was eager to introduce Cristiano Ronaldo-the reason behind it is likely that Real Madrid hopes that Mbappe can join the team without pressure.
And Manchester City also got the opportunity to sign Cristiano Ronaldo in the process of pursuing Harry Kane, but the situation seems still unclear at the beginning, because Blue Moon is still expected to sign Kane, and it is reported that Guardiola does not seem to want to introduce the Portuguese.
At almost the same point in time, there were two pieces of news about the possible introduction of Cristiano Ronaldo from different clubs. It can be said that this further conveyed the possibility of Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the team to a certain extent.
With Harry Kane confirming to stay in the team, the media’s rumors about Cristiano Ronaldo joining Manchester City have changed. The Portuguese looked more and more suitable for Blue Moon, who lacked a center. Faced with this opportunity, Manchester City also had heated discussions inside.
It is reported that in the relevant negotiations, Cristiano Ronaldo initially hoped to get a weekly salary of 500,000 pounds, but this greatly exceeded the standard within the Manchester City team. Kevin De Bruyne, who had previously renewed his contract with the club, was only at the level of 380,000 pounds.
However, there are rumors that the Portuguese are subsequently willing to accept a 50% pay cut. At the same time, Jorge Mendes also mediated with Juventus on the issue of transfer fees. We once thought that Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer would also generate a substantial transfer fee-which is different from Lionel Messi’s free transfer. But in the end this figure was suppressed at a fairly low level.
Looking at it now, Jorge Mendes seems to have been sending such a signal to Manchester United: They can introduce Cristiano Ronaldo at a relatively low cost.
Of course, Cristiano Ronaldo himself also played a role during the period. We are not sure if Cristiano Ronaldo knows that Jorge Mendes’s series of operations are aimed at attracting Manchester United’s attention and eventually bringing the Red Devils back to himself.
Not long before this shocking transfer took place, some media first stated that Cristiano Ronaldo was dissatisfied with Jorge Mendes’ operations on the one hand, thinking that his agent was too slow and inefficient, and later claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo had already Said to Juventus teammates that their next destination is Manchester City.
In his professional career, Cristiano Ronaldo has really experienced the atmosphere of Manchester Derby. It is impossible for him not to understand what it means to join his old club’s mortal enemy. Therefore, there is a possibility that he has been “acting”, but it is also possible that Jorge Mendes has concealed his purpose for fear of revealing information in advance.
[One big move]
It needs to be emphasized again that the content of the previous section is entirely based on speculations and assumptions, but then again, in Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer soap opera, Manchester City seems to be reversing the role their city rivals have become familiar with in the eyes of fans over the years.
In the past, fans ridiculed Manchester United as “carrying up the United”-in the eyes of fans, it seems that there are often stars who use the Red Devils to “raise the price” for themselves when it comes to renewal and transfer issues. What may make Manchester City fans feel a little uncomfortable is that this time it seems that Jorge Mendes’s operation order for Manchester City is “cutting prices” for Cristiano Ronaldo. Manchester United also seized the opportunity and finally succeeded in welcoming Cristiano Ronaldo back.
We don’t know how much effort Jorge Mendes has made in the entire incident, but at least from the media’s revelations and the final results, this time he should have gained a lot. Source