INTER MILAN beat Arsenal to the Deadline Day signing of Martin Satriano – a South American whizkid dubbed the ‘next Zlatan Ibrahimovic’.
But if it weren’t for his English agent, Satriano might still be playing in Uruguay with Luis Suarez’s old side Nacional.
Martin Satriano signs for Inter Milan after help from agent Nick Maytum, leftCredit: The Sun
London-born Nick Maytum specialises in looking after South American talents and securing them dream moves to Europe.
A host of European sides were interested in Satriano, who cut his teeth in Nacional’s reserves this season.
Inter won the race and signed the 18-year-old for around £1.7m, though the youngster has his heart set on a Liverpool transfer in the future.
Maytum said: “Hes 18, 6ft 2in, a beast.
“Arsenal were quite keen and there’s a lot of interest from a lot of clubs, but Inter was the perfect one for him.
“I think it was a good step for him to go to Italy to push things forward. It’s important you try to match the players to what’s the right move for them.
“There was interest from the Premier League but I think that will come later.
“Liverpool are his favourite team. He loves them, especially the way they’re playing at the moment.”
Maytum jetted off to South America with a degree in sports management and about four years of experience under his belt before setting up his own TMG agency.
The 38-year-old insists it is his personal touch that encourages up-and-coming players to sign on his books.
Martin Satriano, right, moved from Uruguayan side Nacional to Inter Milan
Inter now believe they have their own Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Martin SatrianoCredit: AP:Associated Press
And it’s how he came to look after the highly-rated Satriano.
Maytum said: “I just wanted to focus on trying to do a job where the personal relationship with the player was at the forefront and we look after them before anything else, which I think is lacking, especially in South America.
“From getting our first player we grew from there.
“I’m lucky that some of the guys that are working for me down there are brilliant with the personal relations with the players. Once you do a good job for one player they talk to another player.
“We look after them in terms of their day-to-day needs and help push them with the brands like Nike and adidas. Now we’re starting to move a lot of these guys over to Europe and it’s grown from there.
“If they’ve got any issues with their family we try and take care of those.
“I had a player who had a really bad knee injury who was out for a year and a half. My job was trying to help with his mental state and keeping him positive and keeping his confidence up and keeping him believing he could do what he did before the injury when he came back, which he now is.
“TMG – the brand, my agency – we have this family vibe and we keep people close together.”
Maytum has now turned his attention closer to home and is working with a lot of “exciting young talent” in England.
He said: “We’ve just signed a boy Harvey Woods who’s a striker in the Under-18s for Southampton. He’s a really good player and we’re excited about him, but he’s going nowhere.
“We’re also working with Tyger Smalls, another striker who’s been playing in non league but there’s a lot of interest in him from some pretty big teams including in Serie A. He’s a very special player.
“I think in England the personal relationship is lacking with a lot of agents. It’s so important that your player can believe and trust in you so that when you’re doing a deal or something important they know you’ve got their back and best interests at heart.”
Football clubs are often wary of agents, with Manchester United’s move for Erling Haaland collapsing because of representative Mino Raiola’s financial demands.
But Maytum said: “There can be years and years of 24-hour days before you make any money.
“People think ‘Wow, what an easy job, you move a player and make commission’, but its not.
“I’ve looked after Satriano for over five years and we’ve just done his first move now. At the end of the day there’s a lot of work that goes from point zero.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
