In the rarefied world of the so-called super-agent, and certainly the super-rich agent, Jonathan Barnett was an early kingpin.
The 75-year-old Londoner’s love of football and money, his tough negotiating style and his appetite for hard work made him a forerunner to the likes of Jorge Mendes, Pini Zahavi and the late Mino Raiola, who made tens of millions of pounds from transfer deals as the sport was transformed from a rich man’s plaything to the preserve of oil-rich nation states and private equity firms over the past two decades.
