Former winger of the Ukraine national team Yevhen Konoplyanka shared how his business as an agent is progressing in the foreign market.
Yevhen Konoplyanka— Do you want to work with foreigners as well? Perhaps you already have some?
— Yes, I have them, only not on paper yet. Many want, just like before: "Find something, and then we’ll sign." Right now this function is not quite working, and I explain everything to them very easily. If something goes wrong, I am a man of my word — I’ll terminate this contract and throw it in the trash in front of the player. If I don’t do something, he can give an interview to the first or second person. Will this be a plus or a minus for me? He answers: "Minus." I say: "So who are you afraid of?"
Now I want to explain why paper is needed. When I call the club: "This is such and such, I want to offer you a player." They ask: "Are you really an agent?" I show: "Here is the document." Only for this. You know how it used to be? You give the agent a document, don’t even know who he is, and he disappears. And what can you do about it? You can't sign anything without it. Now I tell everyone: "You know me well as a player, as a person. You will later say something against me in an interview, and that will be a minus for me. And I don’t want that."
I want to be able to communicate openly with my players and clubs. So that at 70, I could lie down, watch football, and show: "Oh, that’s my Cossack running, who has received two Golden Balls." I will enjoy this because I will know that I haven’t deceived anyone.
You asked about foreign players. Yes, we have them, we are in touch with them, but so far without contracts right now. But I think we have only just entered this market and we had little time. Slowly but surely — and everything will be.
