Upamanyu Biswas
Netflix’s ‘The Champion’ illustrates the underlying support structures governing top-level soccer players in modern-day sports and their entailing complexities. As Diego, the superstar of Atlético de Madrid, finds himself entangled in a massive PR scandal after his altercation with the club’s first-team captain, the role of his agent, Juanme, is brought to the fore as he navigates the mess through expert media manipulation and coercion. Juanme’s allegiance lies with the player’s public image and brand, ensuring his value never dips below the margins and he remains an asset to the club. Thereby, his role becomes a pivotal aspect of the film’s narrative, highlighting the power wielded by agents in reality.
The Fictional Roots of Juanme
Juanme is a fictional character in ‘The Champion,’ crafted by Joaquín Oristrell and Joan Gual under the direction of Carlos Therón. The soccer agent has massive influence over his clients’ personal lives and steers them in the direction he wants to achieve the maximum advantage in any situation—reputationally and financially. In professional soccer, agents play a pivotal part in brokering deals between players and clubs, negotiating salaries, looking after the player’s best interests, and fighting their corner when they believe they have been hard done by. All of these tasks are standard fare for those representing players at the highest level.
Although Juanme may be fictional, agents who perform similar functions can be traced to the world of soccer. High-profile instances involve people like Jorge Mendez, Jonathan Barnett, Pini Zahavi, and many more. All of them speak for some of the best players in the world, generating massive interest in their dealings and the connections they hold among the top brass in soccer. In the case of Mendez, he represents players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria and soccer managers like Jose Mourinho. According to reports, the Portuguese agent holds immense sway in his operations and is well-respected in soccer circles. While sharing similar professions, Juanme is a minor agent by comparison and operates with younger talent like the 20-year-old Diego.
Juanme is an Amalgamation of Other Soccer Agents
Although he passed away on October 30, 2022, the Italian agent Mino Raiola still generates interest and intrigue due to the players he represented—Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku—and his comments on social media regarding whatever ailment he felt needed to be aired when his players were aggrieved. In media reports, Raiola held a cutthroat image of a man who did everything to give his clients the best comforts he could afford. He was also known to work with the parents of his players, like Norwegian striker Erling Haaland. He had a good rapport with Alf-Inge Haaland, Erling’s father, when brokering deals for their son’s transfer moves.
A similar type of ruthlessness is exhibited by Juanme when it comes to dealing with Diego, who compares the players in his roster to well-bred horses in a race. His whole agenda is to extract the most out of them using whatever tactic is necessary – whether it is hiring his psychologist brother for a show or manipulating the media to generate the right news story. Juanme also holds influence with Diego’s father, constructing moves behind the player’s back to ensure that he follows the path set by both of them. There is no room for allowing Diego to make choices for himself. He is just the vehicle through which both agent and father are living their life and career vicariously. That was different with Raiola, who took his job as an agent as his foremost task.
Due to the high-profile nature of soccer and the transfer market dealings, which generate a lot of attention among fans of clubs, agents sometimes garner more eyeballs than the players they represent. As such, Diego’s fictional roots lend him a sense of overarching similarities, with no specific personality or real-life soccer agent linked to his basis as a character. However, his purpose within the narrative draws upon the work of agents worldwide, offering a glimpse into their dealings and the lengths they go to ensure their player’s satisfaction, albeit in a slightly exaggerated manner in ‘The Champion.’
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