Thorsten Wirth is in the car on the way from Nuremberg to Munich. A meeting with his client Serge Gnabry is on the agenda. He is one of those footballers who would rather clarify some things in person than over the phone, he says. With his agency, Spielerrat GmbH, Wirth has managed to win Kai Havertz as a client alongside Gnabry. He only moved from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea London in 2020 for a rumored 80 million euros. Despite such spectacular deals, Wirth tends to keep a low profile - in contrast to many other player consultants.

Mr. Wirth, what have you done recently?

A spinning bike, because of the lockdown. I actually do a lot of sport. As gyms are still closed, this seemed like the best option.

But you spend a lot of time in the car at work, for example on the way from Nuremberg, where you live, to your client Serge Gnabry in Munich. Do you drive a Lamborghini in style?

No, I drive a BMW 5 Series. It's probably not going to get any more decadent than that. By the way, when my two colleagues and I founded our agency eight years ago, I was still driving an old Audi A3.

Before you became a player consultant, you worked for Adidas. Why did you start your own business?

I worked in sports marketing at Adidas for a good seven and a half years and negotiated supplier contracts for players. My two colleagues, who also worked at Adidas, and I made the decision to start our own business in the last third of our time at the company. We simply wanted to do something new - and through our work for Adidas, we were also able to build up the necessary network of players and decision-makers in the clubs.

You were originally employed by Siemens, so why did you switch to the sports business?

It's true, I originally studied International Business Administration in Germany and Chile. I then got a job as an in-house consultant at Siemens. However, during my two years at Siemens, I realized that it wasn't for me. Consulting is a very demanding business, you work long hours and don't have much of a private life. The sports environment simply suited me better. I was in my late 20s and wanted to adapt my professional life to my lifestyle - as I also did a lot of sport myself.

When it comes to salary negotiations at the latest, every soccer fan has heard of player consultants. However, not everyone can imagine what all their tasks involve. Please describe your everyday life.

Interestingly, more people can relate to the profession of headhunter in business than to our job title. I'm basically something similar, only in soccer. Sometimes I act on behalf of the employer, i.e. the club, when they are looking for a new player, but more often I act directly on behalf of the player. My aim is to bring both sides together in the best possible way. For us, however, this "headhunter business" always has something shady about it.

How does a typical transfer in soccer work for you?

It's basically a three-stage process. In the first phase, many clubs get in touch and ask me how one of my players is doing and whether he can imagine a transfer. In the beginning, I was still very euphoric about this and informed my players directly. But you only make that mistake once. Because it's nothing concrete yet and I'm only driving my players crazy.

So you don't even pass on the majority of these requests?

Exactly. Unless one of my players is going through a bad phase, then of course I can use something like that to cheer him up. Clubs mainly use such calls to mark their territory, they want to stay up to date. In the second phase, clubs become more specific and would like to get to know the player. Then there may be a video call or even a face-to-face meeting.

But there is a rule in soccer that clubs are not allowed to contact players directly if they have more than six months left on their contract.

Yes, that's true, but of course they can still talk to me as a player consultant. In the third phase, things get serious. That's when they make a concrete offer, in writing. From then on, negotiations begin about the length of the contract, the salary and a whole series of clauses.

But there is much more to your job: you organize many more contracts for your clients outside of the employment contract with the association.

Yes, the services can go very far, depending on the player. For example, we help them organize their relocation, provide support with self-marketing, press relations and social media.

Do you see yourself as a hand-holder?

I see our agency as a player developer. We want to support our players beyond what they get from the club. We try to give them further impetus. For example, can playing the piano be a suitable hobby for a player? We gave Serge Gnabry a biography of Muhammed Ali, for example, because we believe it can develop his personality.

How regularly do you communicate with your clients?

There is no precise rule. There are some who want us to intervene more, others need less support. We are in daily contact with some of them - even via WhatsApp about their everyday lives.

Do you see yourself as a family member?

That would definitely be too much. I don't want to presume that. But as a player consultant, you should be one of the closest confidants - otherwise it simply can't work.

The general public only hears about player consultants when there is a hitch in transfer or salary negotiations. To what extent are you involved in these negotiations?

In transfer negotiations, clubs also like to use us as a middleman to find a consensus. If there is a fixed transfer fee, things are of course easy. Take the announced transfer of Dayot Upamecano from RB Leipzig to Bayern Munich for a fixed sum. The player consultant's job was probably comparatively easy.

How is the market value of a player determined?

The values that are often quoted in advance and circulate on various websites are at best approximations - sometimes better, sometimes worse. Many have looked for a mathematical formula behind it, but have not found one. It's a mixture of how sexy the player is, how much the club wants him, how much pressure the club is under and what the alternatives are. And then there is usually a solution where I would also say, "yes, that is the market value of the player".

And then there was the transfer of soccer star Neymar from Barcelona to Paris for 222 million euros. Does that really correspond to the player's market value?

There are always individual cases that are difficult to understand. The transfer of Neymar is certainly one of them. The fact that Bayern Munich recently acquired a defender in Lucas Hernandez for 80 million euros is also difficult to understand.

As a player consultant you are part of it, how much money do you earn?

Our remuneration is generally based on the player's employment contract. We receive a commission on our client's basic salary. With reputable consultants, this is usually between eight and twelve percent. The commission is paid directly by the club.

And this commission includes everything, regardless of how many additional services you provide?

Of course, our aim is to give every player the same package. Of course, it would theoretically be better to only focus on top players and I would be lying if the intensity of support in the 3rd division was just as high as for a Champions League player. But the difference shouldn't be too big.

There are player consultants who stand on the sidelines of the training ground with very young players and want to win them over as clients. At what point do you think a player needs a consultant?

It's not so easy to determine age. A player who is in the U19s, for example, and has the prospect of training with the pros needs a player consultant. There are also boys from the U15s who already have an advisor, but I think that's nonsense. They simply don't need one yet. An advisor at that age also means that players can become totally detached. They shirk responsibility early on and say "my advisor will take care of it". That suggests to them that they've already made it. But they haven't achieved anything yet.

How long have you been looking after Kai Havertz and Serge Gnabry?

Kai Havertz was in the U17s at Leverkusen, so he was 16 years old. We got to know Gnabry in our role at adidas at the age of 15. At the time, it was not yet clear that this would develop into a collaboration many years later. But I know exactly what you're referring to. It's about finding the interface. With Havertz, for example, everyone knew he was going to be a star. His rise was meteoric. And in this case, you also need a consultant. At the time, almost every agency contacted Havertz.

How were you able to win him over?

We struck the right note with his parents and his brother, who managed a lot for him. We were very clear in our speech, but also reserved. Parents of such players are almost besieged. In our discussions, it turned out that it could be a good fit. In the case of such talented players, it speaks in favor of young advice that you can slowly grow and become familiar with each other. That way, a player is not thrown in at the deep end when he is about to sign his first professional contract.

You promise on your website: "We turn talented footballers into professional players and national players into world champions." Can you really keep that promise?

Ok, admittedly that's a bit of marketing speak. Of course we don't make everyone a world champion. Our client Per Mertesacker, for example, also looks back on the 2014 World Cup with a wink and says that he became world champion with little talent. We are satisfied when we can look back with our player at the end of his career and say that we got the maximum out of him.

There are player consultants who talk a lot to the media. Mino Raiola, for example, who is said to be the highest-earning player with an estimated wealth of 100 million, is one of them. Why do you tend to keep a low profile?

Raiola has a completely different style. For example, the transfer of Kai Havertz from Leverkusen to Chelsea was the transfer with the biggest volume in the summer of 2020. Raiola would probably have been in the media every day, but we kept a completely low profile. I don't see it as our job to be in the spotlight like that.

Why do you think the reputation of player consultants is so low?

I think there is an internal and an external reputation. Let's leave out the black sheep, internally we enjoy a very high reputation. Players trust us, the clubs appreciate our work. We will probably never get rid of our poor external reputation. It feels like we're on a par with investment bankers. Nevertheless, I see points that need to be improved overall.

What bothers you?

There are currently no barriers to entry, anyone can call themselves a player consultant. There is no degree, no qualification, no certification. And since it is a financially extremely lucrative industry, there are many professionals as well as charlatans.

Soccer manager Horst Heldt once criticized the fact that the payment of player consultants is not regulated at all. Should this also be addressed?

At this point, I believe in the free market. I wouldn't limit player salaries - which also affects our salaries - or the proportion of fees paid to player consultants. A player consultant has to negotiate the percentage himself; the reputable ones, like us, take eight to twelve percent. But now I also have a question for you, are you a soccer fan?

Oh yes, but please be very professional: I'm a Schalke fan.

My condolences.

Personal details: Thorsten Wirth was born in 1978. During his studies, he completed an internship at McKinsey, among others. He was then drawn to Siemens. Only then did Wirth find his way into the world of sport. After a period at Adidas, he set up his own business with three colleagues and founded the Spielerrat GmbH agency in Nuremberg. Wirth looks after a whole range of players and also some coaches. Former footballers such as world champion Per Mertesacker are also included.