Professional Sports Agents have a big role around transfers. They handle the business and legal deals for professional athletes, negotiates contracts and helps athletes manage their money. They are known for representing either a club, or player – sometimes perhaps both. However, at the end of the day they want to get paid and this is where Lazio enters the conversation in terms of Agent Commission.
A big and decisive fact around Lazio’s failed negotiations for a contract extension with Stefan de Vrij is said to be the commission to his agent firm SEG, also known as Sports Entertainment Group. Founded in 2000, SEG Football has been leaving its mark in the soccer industry, with over 300 clients currently and over 1000 transfers and contract extensions under their belts – it is no doubt that they have have built a reputation of reliability and integrity in the football world. SEG Football deals with all the elite clubs in Europe, but is also active on a local level, which is why many talented prospects choose thier services.
According to reports, SEG demanded around 6 milion euros from Lazio to close the deal for a new contract for de Vrij. They also demanded a release clause of 28 milion euros to be included in the contract where they were said to be wanting a cut as well.
It is very easy to understand for all Laziali that Club President Claudio Lotito would not agree to the situation, which is why the deal broke down. Igli Tare also said in an earlier interview that the club had agreed terms with de Vrij but the thing missing were the commission to the agents. That sadly became decisive in the end.
Perhaps de Vrij could have persuaded SEG in some extent, but since they are his legal representative it’s hard to strike a deal without them. De Vrij was rumoured to be heading Barcelona, but instead now the defender seems too be headed for Serie A side Inter – the main reason? Inter are willing to meet SEG’s demands of agent commission.
Looking at the facts, or rather the figures, it shows that Lazio almost never pays any commission to agents. For the calendar year of 2017 Lazio just paid 1.1 milion euros in agent commissions, which was only a small increase from 723 thousand euros from the previous year.
Compared with Juventus (42.3 million), Roma (22.9 million), and Milan (21 million), Lazio interestingly appears to be on the lower end of these top tier sides by a landslide.
Here is the full list from the Serie A:
Atalanta: € 7.676.098,33
Benevento: € 1.654.083,61
Bologna: € 2.758.811,75
Cagliari: € 1.175.917,80
Chievo: € 2.790.840,00
Crotone: € 1.347.253,36
Fiorentina: € 2.297.070,00
Genoa: € 5.573.895,70
Inter: € 3.163.450,00
Juventus: € 42.364.516,67
Lazio: € 1.130.608,00
Milan: € 21.024.715,33
Napoli: € 5.278.576,86
Roma: € 22.948.000,00
Sampdoria: € 1.296.422,16
Sassuolo: € 4.074.620,00
Spal: € 98.750,00
Torino: € 8.001.524,08
Udinese: € 1.445.333,44
Verona: € 1.971.271,00
TOTAL: € 138.071.758,09
(Figures from CalcioeFinanza.it)
Editor: @S_K_MOORE