Though the 2015 summer transfer window officially opens on July 1, clubs have been planning their moves in advance. They can announce signings now, but a player's registration cannot be transferred until that date, which is approximately a week before most players begin preseason training.
The window is open until Sept. 1 but the whole summer is a busy time for an ever-expanding number of football agents -- at least those who actually represent players. Most are seldom quoted, but one leading and longstanding British agent, who represents several Premier League players, was willing to offer an inside view on condition of anonymity.
On how clubs use agents
"They'll contact you if they want one of your players or you contact them to tell them about your players. Or, they'll tell you the type of player they're looking for or the players they want to sell. I was recently given a mandate by a club to sell several players who are under contract. The club had financial issues -- they wanted them off their books.
"There's no way the players' own agents are going to push to sell them when their clients are sitting on big contracts. So you speak to different clubs about players, gauge interest and try to do a deal. In that situation, a player might earn less money but he may get some of his contract paid up and at least he'll be at a club which wants him and where he is playing every week.
"Agents can use clubs too. They'll talk to a club to gauge interest in one of their clients and use the club as a bargaining chip if they are interested. If an agent did that all the time the club would stop dealing with him."
On nonstop transfer stories
"I've noticed a poorer level of journalism. There are so many transfer stories being churned out to suit several parties that I've stopped reading beyond the headline. They suit the journalist because they write the story, the website or newspaper because they get the story and lots of hits.
"It can also often suit the player to be linked with a better club than the one he's at. It might not necessarily reflect the truth, but clubs can't possibly start denying or confirming every player they're linked with.
"And all that's just in English. Throw in reports from sources across the world and you get a very muddled picture where hearsay quickly becomes fact."
On journalists
"I get five or six messages every morning from journalists asking me for information. They're only doing their job, but I only trust one or two of them. And when you trust them -- or the outlet they work for -- the media can be useful. You can get a message out quickly that a player has had interest from other clubs. That may or may not be true, but outlets will run with it because they trust the source.
"But if you're about to do a big deal, why put that in jeopardy by leaking it? We did a big deal for a very large Premier League club. We said nothing and they said nothing until the deal was finalised. But say, for example, you're the agent of Karim Benzema. You don't need to do anything. Your client is doing well at Real Madrid with no reason to leave and you hold all the cards."
On "Super-Agents"
"Some agents like to see their name in lights and to maintain a high profile. There's a lot of ego in football and it helps create an image of the Super-Agent.
"Some players also love being with an agent who has a high profile because they think high profile equals success. The opposite of high profile is someone you've never heard if, yet a discreet agent can have many advantages. He can conduct business in private; he has no ego to feed. He only has the interest of his clients, but players might see it differently.
"A player might name drop his agent's name as a status symbol -- they're so successful that they're with a big name agent. They can associate themselves with the other more successful clients of the agent.
"Perceptions are important in football and if you can create a strong perception which makes players want to be with your agency, that's great for an agent. The reality is that the majority of players signed even to the biggest name agents are playing at a lower level."
On Real Madrid
"Fans of other big clubs may think otherwise, but Real Madrid is probably the pinnacle for a footballer. If Madrid or Arsenal come in for you then you're going to take Madrid every time, even if you don't play as much. You have the challenge of doing well at Madrid and you can always then go to Arsenal if things don't work out at Madrid. You can't go to Madrid if things don't work out at Arsenal."
On the Manchester clubs
"United were very attractive to players when they were dominant and winning trophies. They are no longer dominant and winning trophies. City have to pay over the odds for players because Manchester is not perceived to be as desirable as the cities where the other leading clubs are based -- Paris, Munich, Madrid or Barcelona, for example."
On a ruthless industry
"I've had regular dealings with one club for 20 years. I trusted them and thought our longstanding relationship and the good work that I'd done for them bred loyalty. I thought I had done a deal with them for a player this week. They went quiet and went with an agent who took a smaller cut. You can't take it personally, it's a ruthless business."
On changes since agent de-regulation
"The industry is getting much worse. Before April, it was calculated that there were 500 licensed agents in the UK, with a further 250 registered lawyers who acted as agents. Then maybe a further 300 who we called 'recruiters' -- people who had an in with a player and brought the player to a licensed agent. They then got a cut of any deal.
"Now, I'm told that the numbers of all those mentioned have doubled since April. All somebody has to do is pay £500 to the [English] FA to become an agent. They have to do a security check and that's it, they can call themselves an agent, even if they have no players. Then they live in hope of doing that one deal where they'll earn a big commission. But first they need players to sign for them."
On players under 16
"They're not allowed agents in the UK. There's nothing to stop their parents having an agent though and using them as a sounding board because they want what's best for their sons. Without agents advising them, clubs can take advantage and pay their homegrown players below the market rate because they know they're more reluctant to leave. Good agents do what is best for a player's career in the long term, not just cut a quick deal."