Meet the super-agent who brokered £15m deal for Tottenham and Mourinho
Jose Mourinho has already been given huge financial backing by Tottenham Hotspur, according to reports.
The former Manchester United and Chelsea boss posed for pictures for the first time on Wednesday as the new head coach of Spurs, less than 24 hours after Mauricio Pochettino was sacked.
Jose Mourinho to earn staggering £15m at Spurs – TWICE as much as Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp – thanks to super-agent Pini Zahavi https://t.co/y8fbmnjtaQ
— Football News (@eurofootb) November 20, 2019
The Daily Mail claim Mourinho will be on a £15million-a-year contract at Spurs, which is twice the amount Pochettino earned.
It will make the 56-year-old the second-highest paid boss in world football, behind only Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, who collects around £20m per year.
Mourinho’s salary is understood to be more than double what Jurgen Klopp is paid at Liverpool.
And it is largely thanks to super-agent Pini Zahavi.
The 76-year-old from Israel helped bring Mourinho to Chelsea from Porto in 2004 and not Portuguese legend Jorge Mendes, who also works closely with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Zahavi acted as an unofficial counsellor for Roman Abramovich during his early years at Stamford Bridge and helped to get Neymar’s world-record transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain over the line.
According to Football Leaks, Zahavi earned a whopping €10.7million from that deal as commission.
His first transfer dealing came in 1979 when, after bumping into Liverpool secretary Peter Robinson at Heathrow airport while waiting for a delayed flight.
He introduced the club to Avi Cohen and never looked back as he began to use his connections from his early career to help several English sides.
After bringing Ronnie Rosenthal to the Reds in 1990, Zahavi also then helped broker the deal to bring Eyal Berkovic to West Ham United from Southampton.
During his dealings with the club, he helped a young Rio Ferdinand make an £18m move to Leeds United in 2000 and then a £30m from the Whites to Manchester United just two years later. In the process, Zahavi earned a cool £1.13m.
Having got to know Sir Alex Ferguson in the late 1980’s, the Israeli began to work more closely with the Red Devils after sorting Ferdinand’s move to Old Trafford.
He was integral to agreeing Jaap Stam’s sale to Lazio for £16.5m in 2001 and then the subsequent purchase of Juan Sebsatien Veron from the same club for £28.1m in the same summer.
It is estimated he earned as much as £5m from Chelsea’s £111m splurge in the summer window of 2003, having worked closely with friend Abramovich during the Russian’s purchase of the Blues.
In January 2006, Zahavi and his partner played a role in the sale of Portsmouth to Alexandre Gaydamak.
The agent also worked on a number of deals, including bringing Avram Grant to the club initially as a technical director in June 2006, signing a two-year scouting contract worth £800,000.
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When Pompey collapsed into administration in February 2010, Zahavi was one of 24 agents who were owed a combined £9m in fees.
Despite his wealth, the widower lives in a seaside apartment in his home country and rents a flat in Marble Arch.