Jonathan Barnett has taken over Jorge Mendes and Mina Raiola as the most powerful agent in the world with well over €100 million in commissions.
Every year, Forbes releases their list of the most powerful and richest agents in the sporting universe. There is a big change at the top of the list this year with Jonathan Barnett, Gareth Bale's agent, claiming the top spot. Jorge Mendes was second on the list last year but Barnett has moved from third to first this year.
Bale is his most high profile client and the player who earned him the highest fee when he moved from Spurs to Real Madrid in 2013. The British agent, the owner of Stellar Group, has sealed deals worth €1.1 billion. Barnett has received €114.8 million in commission. He also has Saúl Ñíguez (Atlético de Madrid), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Manchester United), Maxi Gómez (Valencia) and Joe Hart (Burnley) on his list of clients.
Jorge Mendes is next in third. The Portuguese is possibly the most well-known agent in the world and has, arguably, the most well-known footballer on his list of clients too in Cristiano Ronaldo. His business, Gestifute, have €1 billion worth of contracts and he has earned €105 million. His clients include João Félix (Atlético de Madrid), James Rodríguez (Real Madrid), Diego Costa (Atlético de Madrid), Ángel di María (PSG), Nelson Semedo (Barcelona) and Joao Cancelo (Manchester City).
Mina Raiola is fifth on the list with €630 million negotiated contracts and €63 million in commissions. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) is his marquee client with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Los Ángeles Galaxy), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) and Marco Verratti (PSG) also relying on the agent to negotiate their deals.