Diego Costa’s impending £32 million move to Chelsea represents another triumph for Jorge Mendes, who is rightly described as a super-agent. It also marks another piece of big transfer business in which Jose Mourinho has acquired a player represented by the man who represents him. Continue.....
A conservative estimate is that Costa will become the seventh Mendes client Mourinho has signed for Chelsea over two spells. And at least one other is to follow. Add in Inter Milan and Real Madrid and Mourinho has made at least 12 signings involving Mendes.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in that especially as Mendes’ has such a good track record of delivering. Many managers share agents – or agencies – with players they buy: such as West Ham United’s Sam Allardyce who is looked after by the agent Mark Curtis whose biggest clients include the club’s record purchase Andy Carroll and captain Kevin Nolan.
The links between Mourinho and Mendes are extremely strong and date from the day the agent gained the mandate to organise the manager’s departure from Porto to join Chelsea back in the summer of 2004.
Such is Mendes’s influence and ability to get things done that it is often said that any player – or coach – who leaves Portugal usually has to go through him. That is not far from the truth such is the reputation he has for getting deals done.
Signing Costa is a smart move for Chelsea and a triumph for Mendes who has looked after the Brazilian born striker since persuading Braga to sign him to their coach academy in 2006.
And that is another thing about Mendes – he has extremely strong connections to a handful of clubs and has moved his players around them: Braga, Porto and Benfica in Portugal, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Deportivo de La Coruña in Spain, Besiktas in Turkey, Zenit St Petersburg in Russia and Chelsea and, to an extent, Manchester United in England. More recently there have been a number of big deals – Radomel Falcao, James Rodríguez, Joao Moutinho – at Monaco.
Take Tiago Mendes – he has played for Braga, Benfica, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid and now, remarkably, is set to return to Stamford Bridge, aged 33, on a free transfer … 10 years after Mourinho first took him to Chelsea.
Tiago was Mourinho’s sixth signing that first summer he was at the club even though he only lasted a season before being moved on – other Mendes’ clients arrived in Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho and Nuno Morais: for a total cost of £43m between them. They were followed by Asier del Horno, goalkeeper Henrique Hilario and, on loan, Maniche.
At Inter Milan Mourinho signed Ricardo Quaresma while at Real Madrid he acquired Ángel di María, Fabio Coentrao and Carvalho, for a total of £55m, and coached Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe. All are clients of Mendes whose influence at Chelsea has waxed and waned but appears to be growing again.
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Frank Lampard was in demand in the mixed zone – where journalists talk to players – after England’s 2-2 draw with Ecuador and not just because the midfielder was his country’s captain for the game. Local American media wanted to talk to Lampard about his impending move to the United States to play for the new franchise, New York City FC. With his Chelsea contract expiring at the end of the month Lampard as not confirmed the move, although he has confirmed that the MLS is “an option”.
If he does sign, however, the intriguing aspect is what will he do until the new MLS season kicks off next March? At 35 – and 36 soon – Lampard will want to, have to, play until then although it is hard to see him joining New York’s first confirmed signing, David Villa, who is going on loan to the newly-named Melbourne City FC in Australia.
Both clubs are owned by Manchester City and are regarded as sister clubs … could Lampard, therefore, end up playing half a season at City? That seems just as improbable given his strong relationship with Chelsea and their supporters. But how would they also feel if he pitched up at newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers to play for his uncle Harry Redknapp given the local rivalry and bad blood between the clubs over the John Terry/ Anton Ferdinand case.
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Naturally England are staying in one of Miami’s very best waterfront hotels – the Mandarin Oriental in Brickell Key – during their World Cup preparations in Florida before flying to Brazil this weekend.
Among the other guests at the hotel when they arrived was Morrissey who is touring the United States ahead of the release of his new album, “World Peace is None of Your Business”.
Inevitably – but still surprisingly – very few of the England players recognised the singer who may be 55 but is surely pretty famous even for this relatively youthful squad of players?
There was one honourable exception in the party – along with England coach Gary Neville who, like Morrissey is a Mancunian – and that was Leighton Baines. The left-back’s interest in music is well-documented especially his taste in Indie and love of guitar music. Among Baines’s possessions packed for the World Cup is a guitar. Hopefully, however, he did not get to close to Morrissey when they were chatting as the singer later cancelled the Atlanta leg of his tour after claims that he had been laid low by a virus.
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One of the last messages posted on the social media site Twitter by Neville was to plug a competition to win tickets to watch England’s World Cup group games at Café Football – the football-themed restaurant he co-owns with Ryan Giggs in the vast Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford, east London. Happily enough for Neville the competition is sponsored by Vauxhall, the England team sponsor who claim “Café Football is the perfect venue for England fans”.
Video screens play football highlights on a loop, the menu is littered with dish names such as The Boss (a burger) and the Starting Eleven Platter. The food is said to be very good which is no surprise given the enthusiastic way Neville throws himself into everything he does.
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