Exclusive report by James Nursey, a well-known journalist for the Daily Mirror, said that Jonathan Barnett, a famous British football agent, is retiring.
Barnett has helped guide the careers of many sports stars such as Gareth Bale and Jack Grealish. The Stellar Company, which he founded with David Manasseh in 1994, was named the World's Most Valuable Football Agency by Forbes Magazine and subsequently to Hollywood talent agency ICM Partners in 2020.
The 74-year-old Barnett has also previously been named the world's number one football agent, including in 2013 when Bale moved from Tottenham to Real Madrid for £85.3 million.
But the veteran broker has now decided to call it a day because a recent family bereavement has him thinking about his future.
Throughout his career, Barnett has been fiercely loyal to his players, and he has often lashed out at Real Madrid fans and the Spanish ** for their attitude towards Bale, as Bale's career in the Spanish capital is coming to an end, when he was labelled a "parasite" by the newspaper Marca.
In 2022, Barnett said: "Bale deserves a big goodbye to the club. No, we haven't decided on the future yet.
He's always been happy in Madrid, he came to Madrid when he was young, his children were born in the city, he donated a lot of money to the Spanish hospital (reportedly £400,000), he loves the city and the club, I think the parasite is the ones who say bad things about him. ”