The Football Agent System

(Garcia POV)

Go Ahead’s written proposal landed in Garcia’s inbox at just past nine, and he opened it standing up.

Heads of terms. Addressed to Jay by name, routed through Garcia because the club believed he spoke for the player.

He scrolled past the recitals, past the player-status paragraph, thumb moving toward the money he’d been waiting three weeks to see put in numbers.

The panel cut across the screen before he got there.

[CLIENT STATUS WARNING]

Player: Jayden "Jay" Cole

Agency Status: Unrepresented

G11 Negotiation Authority: None

Football-agent services connected to an employment transaction cannot proceed without a valid representation agreement.

Garcia stopped with his hand on the trackpad.

He didn’t argue with it. He opened the G11 client register in the next tab, already knowing what he’d find, and found it anyway.

One signed agreement. Jamie Holt. Countersigned in the spring, lodged properly, everything in order.

Under it, nothing. No line for Jay. No signature, no date, no term.

He’d built Jay a route to a professional contract. Trained him through the summer, found Norway, run a four-week international evaluation, taken a Eredivisie club’s interest all the way to a proposal.

And he’d never once put a representation agreement in front of the man.

He didn’t reach for an excuse. There wasn’t one worth having.

He closed the proposal without scrolling further. He would not read the numbers, would not glance at the fee section, because the moment he formed a view on terms he had no authority to touch, he’d be doing exactly what the rules said he couldn’t.

He opened a blank note and wrote the correction out plainly.

Signed rep agreement — before anything else. Do not discuss terms. Do not counter. Do not touch the draft.

Then he wrote to Bram Kessels, short and honest.

He thanked them for the proposal. He explained that before he could discuss, amend or respond to any term inside it, he had to formalise his representation of the player, which he would do at once. He asked them to hold the draft as received.

It was an embarrassing email to send. He sent it anyway, because a club that caught him negotiating without authority would trust him with far less than one that watched him stop himself.

The system generated the mission the moment he hit send.

[URGENT SIDE MISSION GENERATED]

Mission: Sign Jay Cole Into G11

Objective: Secure a valid representation agreement before providing football-agent services connected to the Go Ahead Eagles transaction.

Requirements: — Explain G11’s services and authority clearly. — State the representation term and service fee. — Give Jay written notice that he should consider independent legal advice. — Do not pressure Jay because a club proposal is waiting. — Obtain Jay’s voluntary signature. — Do not negotiate with Go Ahead Eagles before completion.

Reward: — Skill Points +500 — Contract Knowledge SP +100 — Client Management SP +100 — Reputation +5

Failure Penalty: — Go Ahead Eagles negotiation suspended. — Jay Cole remains unrepresented. — G11 compliance risk increases.

Garcia read the first requirement twice. Do not pressure Jay because a club proposal is waiting.

He didn’t need the reminder. He was glad the system had put it in writing anyway, because it was exactly the corner a worse agent would cut.

He called Jay before he sent him a single page.

"Before anything else," Garcia said. "There’s a Dutch contract on my screen right now. I can’t touch it. Not a line of it."

"Why not?" Jay sounded half asleep and immediately not. "I thought that’s what we’ve been waiting on."

"Because you’re not my client. Not on paper. I never signed you to G11."

The line went quiet.

"You what?"

"I trained you all summer. Found Norway. Ran the trial. Never put a representation agreement in front of you." Garcia didn’t soften it. "That’s on me. It should’ve been done before you ever got on that plane."

"So all this time—" Jay stopped. "I’ve had no agent?"

"You’ve had me doing an agent’s work. Just none of it written down." Garcia let that sit. "I want to fix it today. But I’m not going to rush you into it because a contract’s sitting here."

"Why now, though?" There was an edge in it, and Garcia didn’t blame him for it. "You waited until money showed up. That’s — that doesn’t look great, Gabriel."

"No. It doesn’t." Garcia took the hit rather than dodge it. "The honest answer is I wanted to prove I could build you something real before I asked you to commit to me. I wanted to earn it first. That felt right at the time. It wasn’t. I should’ve made it official before I arranged a month abroad for you."

Jay was quiet for a moment.

"Okay. Ask me the things, then. I don’t understand half of how this works."

"Ask me. That’s the whole point of the call."

"Right." Jay gathered himself. "If I sign with you — does that mean I have to take the Dutch club?"

"No. The agreement lets me advise you and negotiate for you. That’s all. Which club you accept, reject, keep talking to — that stays yours. Every time."

"Could you sign a contract for me? Or say yes to one without me?"

"No. I can talk to clubs, negotiate with them. I can’t commit you to anything without your written say-so. You have the final word on all of it."

"How long am I tied to you?"

"Two years, maximum. It can’t roll over on its own. When it ends, it ends, unless we both sign a new one."

"And what do you actually take?"

"Five percent of your fixed football wages, and only on a deal I actually negotiate and complete for you. Capped by the rules on top of that."

Jay pushed on the thing Garcia had known he’d push on.

"The flights. The training. All the money that’s gone in." His voice tightened. "Does that turn into a debt? Do I owe you now?"

"No. It’s in the agreement in black and white — no fee on trial travel, trial accommodation, training costs, none of it. No advance payment from you, ever. You don’t owe me a penny to sign this."

"And if it goes wrong between us? If I want out?"

"Thirty days’ notice, either of us. Straight away if one of us seriously messes up and won’t put it right." Garcia kept it plain. "And if you leave and another agent finishes a deal I never started, I get nothing off it. That’s written down too."

The silence after that was a thinking silence, not an angry one.

"Send it," Jay said finally. "But I want to actually read it. Not just sign where you tell me."

"You’re not just going to read it," Garcia said. "You’re going to have your own lawyer read it. One with no connection to me. That’s part of the deal."

He built the agreement the same careful way he’d built Jamie’s, adapted for an adult and an international move. He ran the wording through Contract Red Flag as a first pass and told Jay flat out it did not replace a solicitor.

REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT

Parties:

Gabriel Garcia, FIFA-Licensed Football Agent, acting through G11 Sports Management Ltd ("the Agent")

and

Jayden "Jay" Cole ("the Player")

TERM

2.1 This Agreement shall take effect on the date of signature and shall remain valid for twenty-four months.

2.2 This Agreement shall not renew automatically.

2.3 Any extension shall require a new written agreement signed by both parties.

SERVICES

3.1 The Agent shall advise and represent the Player in relation to:

(a) football employment opportunities; (b) employment-contract negotiations; (c) domestic and international registration; (d) communications with football clubs; (e) career planning; (f) trial and assessment arrangements; and (g) matters reasonably connected to the Player’s professional football career.

3.2 The Agent shall keep the Player informed of all material club approaches and shall not conceal, reject or misrepresent an opportunity.

SERVICE FEE

4.1 The Agent shall receive five percent of the gross fixed football remuneration actually paid to the Player under an employment agreement materially negotiated and completed by the Agent.

4.2 The service fee shall not exceed the maximum permitted by the football-agent regulations applicable at the time payment becomes due.

4.3 No service fee shall be payable in respect of:

(a) trial accommodation; (b) trial travel; (c) training expenses; (d) medical expenses paid by a club; (e) unpaid bonuses; or (f) employment agreements not negotiated by the Agent.

4.4 No advance payment shall be due from the Player.

AUTHORITY

5.1 The Agent may communicate and negotiate with football clubs on the Player’s behalf.

5.2 The Agent may not accept, reject, amend or sign an employment agreement without the Player’s written authorisation.

5.3 The final sporting and employment decision shall remain with the Player.

TERMINATION

6.1 Either party may terminate this Agreement by giving thirty days’ written notice.

6.2 Either party may terminate immediately where the other party commits a serious breach and fails to remedy that breach where remedy is possible.

6.3 Termination shall not create a service fee for work or transactions that were not completed before termination.

6.4 No service fee shall be payable in respect of an employment agreement first negotiated and completed after termination by another authorised representative.

6.5 A fee may remain payable only where the material employment terms had already been agreed through the Agent before termination and the transaction is subsequently completed on substantially those terms.

INDEPENDENT LEGAL ADVICE

7.1 Before signing this Agreement, the Agent has advised the Player in writing that he should consider obtaining independent legal advice.

7.2 The Player shall confirm in writing whether he:

(a) obtained independent legal advice; or (b) voluntarily decided not to obtain independent legal advice.