The days leading up to September 1 were especially hectic for Jorge Mendes.
The super agent to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and two-time- Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who was sacked by the club in December 2015, had been working several big deals in European football over the previous few weeks, but the final hours on transfer day deadline proved especially frantic
And with time fast approaching midnight in London, the headlines came flooding in.
Whether they were making eye-watering record-breakers or bureaucratic busts -- not to mention whether the 49-year-old with the slick tan was even representing the high-profile footballer -- Mendes appeared to be linked to every deal.
There was his client David de Gea's down-to-the-wire finger-pointing mishap between Real Madrid and Manchester United. There was defender Nicolas Otamendi's $44 million move from Valencia to Manchester City, and to cap it off there was even Anthony Martial's deal which brought him to Manchester United from AS Monaco, breaking the teenage transfer record along the way.
Martial's move raised a few eyebrows. Just how did the fee rise so quickly -- from $34 million just a week before deadline before swelling to a hammer price of $55.5 million -- for a 19-year-old who had only 11 goals in 53 senior-level appearances to his name?
In the deal's aftermath, Monaco's vice president Vadim Vasilyev would cause further alarm by crowing that the fee could rise to nearly $90 million with incentives.
Interestingly, Mendes, who refused CNN's interview request via a representative at his agency GestiFute, was reportedly called in by Manchester United to act as a consultant on the deal -- and that may have been the difference maker, says one fellow agent who has been friendly with Mendes since he started out in the business.
"He was obviously very influential in affecting the player's price," Barry Silkman, who once represented former Barcelona star David Villa, told CNN. "Jorge with his influence probably added value of 40%."
Paying for potential
The clout established by the super agent allows him to do more than simply get deals done. He can also lift the price of a player on the back of his endorsement -- not necessarily on the open market, but, crucially, to the front office executives on his speed dial.
In this case, the $16 million premium Mendes may have lumped onto the Martial deal was misplaced, says Silkman, who enjoyed a 17-season career as a professional footballer in England before settling in as an agent in the 1990s.
"Is he worth it?" he asks. "The answer obviously is no. It's probably, in this moment in time, one of the craziest deals done in the history of football."
United's fans might disagree given Martial's sizzling debut goal at Old Trafford last weekend against Liverpool and the two goals he scored against Southampton Sunday, but Silkman says the French international still has a lot to prove.
"When you look at this player, the reality is there is not a human being in the world who can possibly value him at £40 million ($62 million)," he insists. "He hasn't achieved anything ...you can't pay that for potential."
For his part, Mendes plays down any hype about his ability to shape teams or create astronomical value in world football.
"People have the wrong idea about agents," Mendes said recently in a (rare) interview with the BBC. "Being an agent means many different things. I'm someone normal; I'm working hard every day. I have ambition, determination, and (value) being honest and doing the right things."
Even though Mendes does not act on behalf of Martial, he had been active in so many deals involving both Monaco and Manchester United over the past few years, that he was erroneously reported by the British press as being the player's agent.
Martial's actual agent Philippe Lamboley told CNN he knows nothing about Mendes' reported involvement in the deal, nor is he concerned with such minor details: "I don't know at all, it doesn't interest me," he said.
Still, it's not unreasonable to think: no Mendes, no deal. Or, more likely, no Mendes, no $55.5 million.
Mendes, after all, was ranked by Forbes as the most powerful soccer agent in the world.
"I would say United have probably relied heavily on what he said," Silkman explains. "Because of the Cristiano Ronaldo complex people do listen to Jorge, and they take notice of what he says."
Mendes, Inc.
Mendes' ties to Manchester United began back in 2003, when an 18-year-old kid with bad skin and greasy hair was handed the number seven jersey after signing from Sporting Lisbon for $19 million.
It would arguably turn into the most lucrative investment a professional sports team ever made in an athlete, netting United three Premier League titles, one Champions League trophy and over $100 million from Ronaldo's sale to Real Madrid in 2009.
It was, in essence, the launch of Mendes, Inc.
"Cristiano Ronaldo made Jorge Mendes, 100%," says Silkman of the agent who only eight years prior to that deal was managing a nightclub outside of Porto.
"You have to remember that when Cristiano Ronaldo was at Sporting Lisbon, Mendes wasn't doing any big deals."
Silkman says he first met Mendes when he was shopping Ronaldo around to Premiership clubs, including Chelsea, who he was asked to approach, before the Portuguese star joined Manchester United.
Once that high-profile signing was completed, it drew other players to the dealmaker, says Silkman: "Mendes (was) just a normal agent, but with Cristiano Ronaldo's move to United, it opened the door for him."
Miguel Cuesta Rubio, who co-wrote the Mendes biography "Jorge Mendes: The Special Agent," agrees: "Of course, when you have Ronaldo it sends a (loud message) to the other players, and one goes to the next."
"Jorge and Cristiano Ronaldo have been a perfect match for each other, and Jorge has been very clever," adds Silkman. "In fact, as Cristiano Ronaldo has grown, so has Jorge Mendes."
And as the two have climbed to the top of their respective fields over the past decade, they have maintained a close friendship highlighted by Ronaldo's appearance as best man to Mendes' wedding in August.
And what do you buy an agent who has everything? A Greek island, supposedly.
Aside from Ronaldo, Mendes' wedding guest list showcased a who's who of world football.
In attendance were many of his star players, like former Barcelona midfielder Deco, former Chelsea defender Jose Bosingwa and Nuno -- Mendes' first client and current coach at Valencia -- along with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
"He is not only an agent to the football players, he's also an agent to the clubs," says Rubio, who met with Mendes about 10 times for his book project. "He tries to look after all their interests, not only the interests of the players."
In Portugal, Mendes' dominance is so established that between 2001-2010 he is said to have brokered 68% of transfer fees at the biggest three Portuguese clubs -- Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon.
The statistic was brandished in a 2012 investment prospectus for an offshore fund which sought to invest in players' economic rights that Mendes, along with former United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, were co-advisers on.
The practice of third-party ownership, where businessmen purchase "shares" in a player's value and benefit from his transfer fee, was commonplace in South America and parts of Europe, but was banned by FIFA earlier this year.
The French Connection
Perhaps no club exemplifies the web Mendes weaves in European football as much as AS Monaco, which Silkman says he "knows for a fact" has a financial agreement with the agent to sell its players.
The statement is not surprising. The connection between the team and Mendes has been made by football writers ever since Russian owner Dmitry Rybolovlev purchased AS Monaco in 2011 (detailed best in a series of articles by David Conn of the Guardian).
AS Monaco would not comment on its transfer arrangements, except to say that the club works with many agents aside from Mendes. The two Manchester clubs also declined to comment, as did Real Madrid, Chelsea, Valencia, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Benfica and Al Wasl, who were all contacted by CNN regarding their dealings with the Portuguese agent.
It does appear that Mendes is trusted by billionaire club owners like Rybolovlev and Valencia's Peter Lim for his ability to create wealth on the pitch. In a recent match between the two sides,the Portuguese agent reportedly represented a number of players on each team, as well as Valencia's coach.
Another deal Mendes facilitated for Rybolovlev was a mini-version of the Ronaldo jackpot: a one-year flip of Colombian striker James Rodriguez which netted Monaco $50 million (the buyer again being Real Madrid).
For these transfers and dozens of others, Mendes was acting not only on behalf of his clients -- the stars sweating and sliding all over the pitch -- but also on behalf of the teams who engaged in the buying and selling of them.
If Mendes worked on Wall Street, he'd be a stock broker taking a cut of every trade -- at a reported average of 10% -- and an investment adviser compensated by all the big hedge funds.
In other words, it would never happen.
But this is world football, a sport whose biggest governing body FIFA is in turmoil, which legal experts say has left a gaping regulatory hole without an SEC-equivalent to police transactions.
In fact, just last April FIFA decided to wash its hands away from overseeing agents to any degree at all, tossing the job over to each country's individual football association.
