He was an unsuccessful player, but he took Cristiano Ronaldo to the top of football, and even Sir Alex Ferguson was conquered by him.

Who would have thought that agents could have such a profound impact on the football world? They not only appeared at the negotiating table, but also filled every corner of the commercial media inside and outside the stadium. Jorge mendes, the Portuguese tycoon who leads this trend, is on a road that no one has ever tried, and it all started with the first player deal negotiated in a nightclub 23 years ago.

Today's Mendes, the total value of his agent players has exceeded one billion euros, which is only part of his huge football empire. Back in the 1990s, Mendes, who was in his early twenties, was rejected by semi-professional teams again and again, and decided to give up the idea of being a player and open a video store on the street to make a living. Compared with poor football skills, Mendes was very talented in business, and soon his shop was on the right track and accumulated the first bucket of gold. Later, Mendes discovered a new business opportunity and opened a seaside bar. Such a casual investment became the starting point of Mendes' fortune.

People come and go in the resort, and Mendes' nightclub is always crowded with all kinds of people, including many players. Nuno Santo is one of them. At that time, he was only the backup goalkeeper of the small team Ji mares. The unsatisfactory career made Santo full of complaints. Mendes often explained this young man who had similar experiences with himself, and they soon became friends. Mendes wants to do something for Santo. It happened that among his regular customers were officials from La Coruna, Spain. With Mendes' eloquent recommendation, Santo joined the La Liga team as he wished. Mendes, 30, also discovered the new continent. It turns out that helping players transfer to other schools can make a lot of money.

At that time, the most famous agent in Portugal was Vega who ran Figo and defected to Real Madrid. Mendes took the initiative to invest at home, starting from Vega's assistant and gradually accumulating contacts in the football circle. However, ambition doomed Mendes not to depend on others for long. In 2002, he and Vega had a disagreement over Figo's future, and they fought at the airport and formally parted ways. Mendes, who was not full-fledged at that time, could only rely on the eyes of knowing people and a "vicious" fight alone. For the negotiation of Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo's transfer to Manchester United, Mendes had an accident on the way to the airport and lost a piece of meat in his left ear, but he was unwilling to give up the "life opportunity" to meet Ferguson and simply packed up and flew to England. Although the transfer failed, it left a deep impression on Sir Alex Ferguson. A year later, the two sides finally completed the cooperation, and such a deal was enough to change the history of the football world.

Ferguson appreciates Mendes' way of doing things, which is simple and direct, and dares to fight hard. When he learned that his favorite Ronaldo was playing hot at Arsenal, he persuaded Mendes with only one sentence. "Come to me, he will have at least a half chance to play." So, Ronaldo took the No.7 jersey left by Beckham. Mendes's business philosophy is different from that of ordinary businessmen. He likes money, but he prefers to "catch big fish in the long line". Manchester United has a stable environment, excellent football culture, a coach who is eager for talents and is familiar with his teaching assistants. More importantly, the Dream Theater needs new idols. All this seems to be for Cristiano Ronaldo.

From indulging in flowery gestures to becoming a killer on the court, from a loose "bad boy" to a "spiritual leader" who never gives up, Ronaldo's transformation is not only the careful teaching of Sir Alex Ferguson, but also the full support of Mendes. Especially after Ronaldo lost his father, he took meticulous care of his family and mother, helping Portuguese genius to spend the most difficult time in his life. In Ronaldo's mouth, Mendes plays the role of father and brother, guiding his direction. /kloc-at the age of 0/5, Mendes entered Ronaldo's life. He is convinced of the height that this child can achieve. Everything he does is based on Cristiano Ronaldo's career, whether it is personal image shaping and commercial packaging, or choosing a more suitable team.

When Manchester United lost to Barcelona in the Champions League final without temper, Mendes realized that Dream Theater could not bring Cristiano Ronaldo promotion. Under his hand, Real Madrid, the most commercialized club in the world, signed the Portuguese for a record 80 million pounds. Three years later, Mendes did the same thing to Mourinho. Before the Champions League final, he took the contract of Real Madrid to the hotel and "forced" Uncle Bird to sign it quickly. Mendes believes that Real Madrid can bring the richest rewards to his players and coaches, not only the game, but also the image and popularity. Cristiano Ronaldo won four of the five Golden Globes in Real Madrid, and his influence was unparalleled. This can be seen from the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo's social media has more than 300 million fans, and his extraordinary strategic vision has once again helped Mendes earn a lot of money.

In the summer of 20 15, 49-year-old Mendes held a grand wedding with his wife, and Ronaldo prepared a special gift for him-the ownership of an island in the Aegean sea. The relationship between Mendes and Cristiano Ronaldo has already surpassed friends, and it is not an exaggeration to call them family. Their relationship will record the most legendary movement in football history. When Ronaldo's career came to an end, Mendes' football empire was not affected at all, but ushered in a "second leap".

Once upon a time, the world of football agents was still very arrogant. Milan Leola's business was once bigger than Mendes's, but this "greedy fat man" only knew how to get high transfer fees and wages by various means, and made a lot of money from it. Mendes' field is obviously very different. In order to counter Vega's exorbitant price, Porto President Leonardo da helped many people in the team become Mendes' customers. When Portugal won the Champions League in 2004, Mendes did not blindly sell the "treasure" at a high price, but arranged the transfer in different categories. After Mourinho was attracted by Chelsea, Mendes sent defensive players such as Carvalho and Ferreira to the door to help Uncle Bird build a good defensive counterattack. For Barcelona, which pays attention to technical football, Mendes actively recommends Deco.

The performance of his players has undoubtedly become Mendes' best advertisement, which also shows that he never wants to be a manager. Mendes began to try to "own" the players, exert influence on the team through "third party ownership" and gradually "control" the whole Portuguese football. In the 2008 European Cup, as many as 16 people in the 23-man squad of the Portuguese national team came from Gestifute, a brokerage company owned by Mendes. Even so, Mendes is still not satisfied. 20 14 when Malaysian businessman Lin Rongfu entered Valencia, people were surprised to find that Mendes was the "head" of this team. The Bat Corps bought a large number of Mendes players, up to 12 at most, and even the head coach was his old friend Nuno Santo. As a manager in charge of a five-league team, Mendes did something that no one dared to think before. Although the Valencia model did not succeed in the end, Lin Rongfu did not suffer. He got the portrait right of Cristiano Ronaldo and became more and more closely connected with Mendes' football empire.

Valencia's failure did not make Mendes flinch. Mendes once again played an important role as a middleman in China Fosun Group's acquisition of English Wolf. Fosun Group acquired a 20% stake in Gestifute, and Mendes naturally became the "shadow cabinet" of the club. He quickly brought neves, the youngest captain in the history of the Champions League, to the team by breaking the transfer fee record of the Championship. As Wolves entered the Premier League as they wished, Mendes ushered in more exhibition space, and Nuno Santo took over the team again. During the summer transfer period, Wolves brought in many managers, including Mortinho and Patricio. Last season, the newly promoted wolves unexpectedly ranked seventh in the league. After 29 rounds of Premier League this season, Wolves ranked sixth. In the capital-rich Premier League, the Wolves, whose financial resources are not outstanding, can quickly rank among the upper and middle reaches, and Mendes has contributed.