Jorge Mendes, the renowned players' agent, has revealed the difficulties he faced in convincing clubs to sign a number of talents who later became some of the most prominent stars in world football. Chief among them are Bernardo Silva and João Félix. Plenty of people, he stressed, simply did not believe in these players in their early days.
Speaking at the "Leading the Game" forum, part of the Executive Master in Football Business Administration programme organised by Católica Porto Business School in collaboration with the Portuguese League, Mendes recalled the behind-the-scenes battles to back the careers of a string of players, pointing to Bernardo Silva and João Félix.
Mendes said: "There is the example of Bernardo Silva. I was told several times: Jorge, forget it, you have no chance, Bernardo Silva will never become an important player, and all he can achieve is playing in the first or second division, perhaps with a team like Paços de Ferreira."
He added: "Everything is very relative, and it becomes more complicated when it comes to players in youth teams, because there are clubs that give priority to players who are physically stronger. Everyone rejected the idea, and when he moved to Monaco the club did not want to keep him after his first year, and I had to convince the president."
He continued: "He was a player who relied on possession of the ball, not the type who runs everywhere, which is also why he moved to Manchester City, which was the right team for him. After that it became clear that we were looking at one of the best players in the history of Portuguese football."
Another example came courtesy of João Félix, now at Al-Nassr. The forward boasted striking talent, yet his move to Benfica came about in circumstances the agent described as little more than a favour.
He said: "João Félix, for example, when he was at Porto, was a player... Most of the players whose transfers I have overseen over the past years, and when I say most of them I mean it literally, perhaps more than 80%, were not the most prominent players at their clubs. And João Félix is an example of that."
He explained: "He was at Porto, and at the same time Benfica showed interest in his brother and signed him. His father was naturally worried, because João was at Porto while his brother moved to Benfica, and so the club signed João Félix almost as a courtesy."
Barcelona earned praise from the Portuguese agent for the way they run their youth setup. "The club signs one, two or three players from the reserve team every year. And when we talk about Barcelona, we are talking about one of the best clubs in the world. We can see the players who currently feature with the first team, and many of them graduated from the club's academy," he said.
Too much talent, Mendes warned, slips through the net for want of a chance. He added: "There is a lot of talent being wasted, because the talent is already there, and we can find very talented players in the third division, just as we can find very talented players in the second division. The problem is that, on many occasions, they do not find anyone to give them the opportunity."