Ansu Fati, in the year 2020; Alejandro Balde, in 2021; Nico González, in 2022… And since January 2023 he has also been part of the portfolio of representative Jorge Mendes Lamine Yamal, one of La Masia’s pearls. The agent’s influential arm reaches more FC Barcelona players every day.
Mendes is seen. In the middle of the transfer market, it is not uncommon to find him having dinner at the Via Veneto restaurant in Barcelona with the president Joan Laporta and with the football director Mateu Alemany, with whom he established a close relationship when they both met at Peter Lim’s Valencia. Nobody avoids the media focus. Nor in Porto, the city to which Laporta and Alemany traveled on Tuesday to, among other things, meet the fashion agent.
There are several pending folders to resolve. The future of Ansu Fati, the return of Nico González, on loan to Valencia, or the renewal of Balde. In addition, although they are not directly represented by their company, Gestifute, there are also players like Abde, on loan to Osasuna, or the goalkeeper Iñaki Peña whose lawyers work with the Portuguese agent and who are also waiting to resolve his future.
The Mendes-Barça link was not always this intense. After the arrival of Rafa Márquez (2003) and Deco (2004) the tap was closed. 12 years passed in which there was no footballer represented by Mendes at the Camp Nou. Quite the opposite of Real Madrid which, coinciding with the Guardiola era, signed Mendes representatives such as Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mourinho, Carvalho, Di María, Coentrão or James Rodríguez. The frustrated signing of De Gea in the summer of 2015 moved Mendes away from the Bernabéu and brought him closer to the Camp Nou again.
In 2015 he collaborated in the signing of Arda Turan and in 2016 he definitely reappeared thanks to André Gomes and Paco Alcácer. They were followed by Semedo (2017) and Trincão (2021), currently on loan to Sporting Lisbon. Last year Mendes also intervened so that Adama Traoré played half a season on loan at the Camp Nou.
Mendes currently has other players that Barcelona are interested in, such as Bernardo Silva. Another represented by the Portuguese agent who is also in the Barça orbit is Ruben Neves, Wolverhampton midfielder.
