For years, Volker Struth has been the most influential German football agent. Although Pini Zahavi, Mino Raiola, Fali Ramadani and others have stepped deep into German football in recent years and hold some of the best players, Struth is still listed as the agent with the most significant influence in Germany.His clients are Tony Kroos, Timo Werner, Dayot Upamecano, and he used to be in charge of the careers of Mario Goetze, Mladen Petric, Benedikt Howedes and some other famous names. The list of Struth’s clients also includes the biggest German coaching star – Julian Nagelsmann.The young coach moved from Leipzig to Bayern this April, and Struth mediated in that interesting transfer. Struth described the story of the most expensive coaching transfer in the history of football in his autobiography, which will see the light of day on October 28, and some of the details have already been published by Bild.Done deal – Nagelsmann arrives to Bayern Munich’s dugout!In the book “My moves – from a mining settlement to the most successful agent in Germany”, Struth described how Naglesmann’s transfer to Bayern went.”It was March 9, and this book was almost ready. We corrected dots and commas. And then I suddenly felt that I would have to change it.Joachim Low announced his departure from the bench of the German national team after 15 years. I immediately thought: Who will replace him?A natural replacement would be Hansi Flick, who at that time already had all six trophies won with Bayern.But then who will replace Flick at Bayern? Bingo!##EDITORS_CHOICE##If the script went the way I envisioned, then Bayern would have to go after Julian Nagelsmann. Six months before that, Nagelsmann became a member of my agency. A month after Joachim Low started the domino effect, Bayern’s sports director Hasan Salihamidzic called me. The day before, after the elimination from Paris Saint-Germain, Flick informed Bayern that he wanted to leave and take over the German national team after Low. They wanted Nagelsmann to succeed him.I informed Nagelsmann’s boss Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO of Leipzig. He already had what a professional negotiator should have in such situations: a clear strategy and determination in his voice. He told me authoritatively:’The whole thing has to be finished by Sunday! I will not allow you to make negotiations complex and protracted. We have to find a new coach too. Everything must be resolved quickly so that the team does not destabilize. Either we reach an agreement by Sunday, or there is nothing to it. ‘It was Thursday when we talked…The next thing I heard was, ‘This is madness!’Bayern’s new director Oliver Kahn was screaming from the other side of the phone when he heard that Oliver Mintzlaff was asking for 30,000,000 in compensation for Nagelsmann. Bayern offered 9,000,000 euros at that time.Who is Nagelsmann and what will he bring to Bayern?The amount of compensation that Bayern paid to Leipzig was a matter of agreement between the clubs. But I wanted to mediate the story in the interest of all parties. Without a quick agreement between the two clubs, the chance for Julian’s transfer to Munich would fail.”What do you consider inappropriate here?” Mintzlaff shouted at me on the phone when I conveyed Bayern’s position to him.I calmly suggested that we lower the figure to 15,000,000 euros. And again, we were at the beginning of negotiations… He said there was no more chance of letting Nagelsmann go.’Her Mintzlaff, now that we have opened this chapter, we have to come to an agreement and close it. You can’t keep Julian. That must be clear to you, ‘I told him.I was absolutely convinced of what I was talking about.##NAJAVA_MECA_5930436##I was not present when Oliver Mintzlaff and Oliver Kahn continued to negotiate. The next call I received arrived on Sunday, and they informed me that they had reached an agreement.I heard that the amount of the transfer is a little more than 20,000,000 euros, and with some bonuses, depending on the Nagelsmann, the result could reach 25,000,000.Everything seemed to be over, and then Hasan Salihamidzic called me. He told me that the costs of Nagelsmann’s transfer were extremely high and asked me if I could talk to Julian again and ask him to reduce his salary compared to what we had agreed.’Do you want to scam me, Hasan? Well, we agreed on everything before! ‘Julian Nagelsmann: “I’m doing well so far. Everything’s fine. Unfortunately, I’ll not be on the bench in Gladbach. I’m still in quarantine at home. I’ll take another test on Thursday. I had a test yesterday, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for me to go to Gladbach.” pic.twitter.com/VtfLJF2Rh4— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) October 26, 2021 Of course, he knew everything was arranged. But when they sent an offer to Nagelsmann, they did not know that his compensation would cost them that much and that they would have to pay Leipzig over 20,000,000 euros.I told him that I could ask Julian but that the answer depended solely on himself.I called him, explained Salihamidzic’s worries to him, and he simply replied ‘Ok’ and agreed to a salary reduction. He gave up 15 per cent of the salary that was agreed upon earlier “, it is written in the part of Struth’s book.Nagelsmann’s transfer fee has become the largest in the history of football when it comes to coaches. He broke the record of Andre Villas-Boas, whom Chelsea paid Porto as much as 15,000,000 euros in 2011. As for Nagelsmann’s salary, today it is 7,500,000 euros gross per year.
