Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports making waves in European football transfer market
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Bayern Munich’s Jérôme Boateng was the first football client, in 2015, before Roc Nation Sports International (RNSI) was established four years later with a focus on stars at big European clubs.Based in London, it now has more than 100 players on its books, including Vinícius Júnior – the Brazil forward who signed a lucrative new contract with Real Madrid this week believed to be worth around €25m. In July 2023 RNSI took over the successful Brazilian agents TFM – who already represented Vinícius, Gabriel Martinelli, and Endrick – and renamed it Roc Nation Sports Brazil.In negotiations that have lasted two years, it had hoped to persuade Real to increase their star asset’s salary to €30m a year to match Kylian Mbappé, and allowed his contract to enter its final 12 months in an effort to drum up interest elsewhere.
Having been told they must pay in excess of £100m to sign Diomande, Paris Saint-Germain withdrew from the race at the end of July after releasing a statement that said the European champions “will not engage in the inflationary and manipulative games of certain player agents”.RNSI has also had to fend off two legal challenges, including one from the former Bournemouth winger Max Gradel who claims that his agency, Maxidel Management, had an existing agreement with Diomande. Dez Bamba – who is president of Diomande’s first club, AFI Sud Comoé in Côte d’Ivoire – has said that the winger was persuaded to join RNSI after receiving a call from Vinícius.
RNSI has not commented on the case. Given Diomande’s meteoric rise, perhaps it is no surprise that clubs are flocking to invest in African academies.Jeff Luhnow – the former general manager of the Astros and St Louis Cardinals who won three World Series baseball titles and owns Leganés as part of his Blue Crow network of clubs – told the Guardian last year Diomande was expected to be the first of many after they set up recruitment and development programmes in several African countries, including Ghana and Zambia, in the past several years.