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Serie A side Napoli Owner Aurelio De Laurentiis spoke out against the "cancer" of football agents on Wednesday and "questioned why clubs should have to pay them in transfer deals for players," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. De Laurentiis said at the Leaders Sport Business conference in London that he also "only signed players if he had complete control of their image rights and some deals had fallen through as a result." In a discussion with West Ham Vice-Chair Karren Brady, he said of agents, "You know, that's a cancer of our domain. Not every agent. But I don't understand why you need an agent. In Hollywood, the actor pays (the agent) himself. I don't pay the agent. In soccer, why must I pay? The agents became like a tax and sometimes they want to be paid up front. ... Why? Because when they finally receive all the money, they go shopping around and making your players crazy because they will say, 'I'm negotiating with West Ham, they will pay you two million more.'" Outgoing Association of Football Agents Chair Mel Stein responded to De Laurentiis by saying that some people "might say the same of club owners and chairmen" and there were "rotten apples" in all walks of life. Stein: "The fact of the matter is that there are some bad people, but you can't call them a cancer" (
REUTERS, 10/5). In London, Ben Rumsby reported De Laurentiis "also credited the late Baroness Thatcher for the transformation in English football" that has made the Premier League the "richest league in the world." Describing the former PM as "madame Thatcher," he hailed her for "eradicating hooliganism" in England "with that brilliant, fantastic law" -- presumably referring to "the requirement for clubs to convert their stadia to all-seater." De Laurentiis "blamed the lack of similar action in his native Italy for Serie A being overtaken by the Premier League" (
TELEGRAPH, 10/5).
