Paolo Vernazza was 18 years old when he was first exposed to the extraordinary world of football agents. A supremely talented youngster at Arsenal, who made his first-team debut under Arsène Wenger at the age of just 17, Vernazza was regarded as a must-have player for the big agencies of English football in the late 1990s.
Such was the interest in the teenage Vernazza, one agency went to dramatic lengths in an attempt to convince him to join. “I remember being taken to Wimbledon to meet Anna Kournikova,” he says. “To be honest, it all went a little over my head. We went to this big house and she came to meet us. But it didn’t work — I ended up signing somewhere else.”
Almost three decades have passed since then and Vernazza now lives on the other side of that particular fence. The former midfielder runs his own agency, Two Touch, and helps to guide the careers of Premier League stars such as Ollie Watkins, Matty Cash, Will Hughes, Ethan Pinnock and others. Last week, the agency announced a merger with Autograph Sports Management, another business created by an ex-player: Danny Webber, the former Manchester United, Watford and Sheffield United forward.
For Vernazza, life has changed since the glory days of his early playing career — he is talking to Telegraph Sport from a motorway service station, after all, rather than from a house party with tennis superstars — but his experiences as a footballer have provided him with a unique insight into the sport, and the changing nature of the agency business within it.
The Premier League has become a global phenomenon, attracting millions of viewers and relentless coverage. Relatively little is known, though, about the agents and intermediaries who shape so much of it. Inevitably, this has led to stereotyping: in the outside world, agents are often derided as greedy schemers or manipulative deal-makers who move players around for their own benefit.
In some cases, of course, that stereotype is fair. But to talk to Vernazza is to learn that the old ways of doing things – of simply wheeling and dealing – are no longer effective. Football has evolved off the pitch, as well as on it. Many agencies now have their own player analysis departments, player-care specialists, nutritionists and psychologists.
“The needs of an athlete nowadays are much more than when I was playing,” says Vernazza. “It is not just about doing contracts any more, it is about understanding them emotionally and what type of person they are.
“The days when you were just doing the deals are gone. Those agents are few and far between. The player needs care, someone to talk to, someone to understand what they are going through. This is non-stop now.
“Before, you could get away with just being an agent who sat in an office and cold-called clubs trying to broker a deal. Now, the market has changed. Understanding the economics of it, how cash flow works, the financial regulations, the emotions of the players and the families… deals become very challenging now, because there is so much money involved.”
This is why, Vernazza believes, the agency landscape has altered so dramatically in recent years. The consolidations of some of the biggest firms have created enormous businesses that are capable of representing hundreds of players at a time. “We will see fewer and fewer one-man bands,” says Vernazza.
This is one of the reasons behind their merger with Webber’s Autograph, which is based in Manchester. It helps that Vernazza and Webber have been friends for years, with their relationship dating back to their time playing together at Watford in the 2000s.
“The industry is global now and the Premier League is the biggest market out there,” says Vernazza. “Everyone wants to come to England. So we needed to make sure over the past five years that we built our contact base to be exceptional, so that we could not be pushed aside by another agency.”
Vernazza’s experience as a player has shaped his approach as an agent. He is the first to admit that he did not work hard enough to fulfil his potential. After those thrilling early days at Arsenal, he went on to play at clubs such as Watford, Rotherham, Barnet, Weymouth and Woking. Admittedly, his career was not helped by an incident with a burglar in 2001, in which Vernazza and fellow former Arsenal trainee Andrew Douglas were both stabbed.
“I never made it at the level I should have,” says Vernazza. “Because I never worked hard enough. You need a player to be accountable, which is a word I only used when I retired and realised that I was not accountable for my own career.
“I could certainly give advice to players we are working with, on things not to do. Not to become a party boy. Not to burn the candle on both ends. And one of the biggest words we use with our players is ‘sacrifice’. To become the best you have to sacrifice. That’s many things: you have to sacrifice your social life, your eating habits, the way you work in the gym.
“You have to become elite. There is no point having elite talent if you don’t have an elite mindset. I was a good player. I played for Arsenal at 17. But I never had the mindset to go with my talent, so eventually it is flawed. Transferring my skill set to the business world, I have the opportunity to give the players advice on what I have learnt on my journey.”
