Superstar agent Jonathan Barnett has predicted a dark turn in English football amidst salary caps and Brexit impact.
Jonathan Barnett is one of the biggest sports agents in the world. In fact, the chairman and co-founder of Stellar Group was named 2019’s most powerful sports agent in the world by Forbes.
Barnett’s influence in the Premier League is clear as he manages the likes of Gareth Bale, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount, and Jordan Pickford. Therefore, the agent is hoping that his advice regarding English football will be heard before it’s too late.
According to the superstar agent, the EFL Championship will suffer a huge loss in quality and revenue if they decide to go through with the €20 million salary-cap next season.
“The salary cap in the Championship would be an absolute disaster. No good young players will want to go to those clubs. It’s heading for doom. The standard will drop dramatically and I guarantee that if we didn’t have these spending rules, you would see big hitters buying Championship clubs.”
Moreover, Barnett discussed Roman Abramovich’s impact in the league and how Championship teams could benefit from having similar club owners.
“Abramovich has done a great job. When he came in, Chelsea were going broke, the league was struggling. He put money into Chelsea, gave money to other clubs, and transformed the game and you could have the same in the Championship but for these rules.
“Abramovich was the best thing to ever happen to the Premier League, it’s now the best league in the world and yet it’s a terrible trait in England that we build things up to knock them down.”
Brexit will gravely affect transfer deals from now on.
As English football reached an all-time low on transfer fees in the winter market, Barnett also discussed the impact of Brexit on potential new deals.
“Brexit is the biggest threat to English football,” said Barnett. “Look at Wolves, they’ve been so successful and yet would they get in now? There are players who could have saved West Brom but they can’t get work permits. I truly believe European players have helped British players so much.
“I’m telling you – the young British players are the best of my lifetime and that’s because they’ve been brought up and learned from the best. If you reduce the standard, you damage other players.”
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