There’s no doubt football has come a long way since the days of Bryan Robson. Agents, social media and a 24 hour news cycle mean we know so much more about players and transfers these days.
Following a report in the Metro, it’s clear that Bryan Robson isn’t a big fan of some agents – more specifically Mino Raiola who represents Paul Pogba among many others.
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He had been speaking about the situation surrounding Pogba. The Metro quote the French star as saying he was ready for a new challenge somewhere else.
Talking about the current situation, Robson said: “Players are influenced far too much by their agents instead of making their own decisions. If a player is loyal to a club and stays there, the agent doesn’t make as much money. That is a big influence, not just at Manchester United but all across the game.”
The United legend went on to offer some advice to Pogba on how to deal with transfer speculation, saying: “You are contracted to Man United, (so you have to) get your head down, do your pre-season, which, from what I have seen in the training sessions he has done and if something happens and the club want it to happen, or if it doesn’t, you have to get on.”
There does seem to be some credence in Robson’s comments about agents wanting to keep players moving on as that’s how they make their money. If you look at some of Raiola’s clients – Mario Balotelli, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Moise Kean – they are constantly linked with moves and rarely stay at a club for longer than three years.
Robson made 345 appearances for Utd in his career, so it’s not surprising to see it seems to bother him that players don’t have the same loyalty and drive that he showed in his playing days.