Giuseppe Riso, a well-known agent, spoke to Calcio&Finanza and discussed the future of his client TonaliThe well-known agent and founder of the GR Sports agency, Giuseppe Riso, spoke at length in an interview with Calcio&Finanza, touching on a range of topics, particularly those relating to his clients. Among them is Sandro Tonali, the Italian midfielder currently playing for Newcastle and being monitored by several top clubs, such as Juventus in Italy.When asked: “Newcastle are already a Champions League club, but now it’s said that Tonali is being targeted by top clubs, those aiming to win the Premier League, such as Arsenal or Manchester City,” Riso replied: “Exactly, that was the aim from the moment he went to England: to try and turn him into a star player. I think he’s the Italian player with one of the highest values in the world.” And again: “If he shines at the World Cup, will City or Arsenal be hot on his heels? I don’t know (laughs, ed.), but it’s very likely. Everyone is waiting for the World Cup; then a thousand scenarios will unfold, but it all kicks off after the World Cup.” Here are his other comments:"The deal came about because a club like Newcastle (owned by PIF, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, ed.) with virtually unlimited financial resources had decided to invest in Sandro. We considered the idea of giving the player the chance to play in a higher-level league. Did we know about the betting? No, absolutely not – partly because we would have intervened otherwise. I must say that the transfer ultimately proved to be a winning move from this perspective. Because both Newcastle and its fans treated Sandro incredibly well, always supporting him. In Italy, he received a different treatment. Not from the Milan fans, who always protected him.""Relationships are everything in football. And the deeper you go with your contacts, the greater the chance of forging successful connections. I do my best (laughs, ed.), but I agree that it’s not always easy to bring such strong personalities together. How does one become an agent? There’s no set formula. There are opportunities you have to seize and believe in, and of course, you have to work hard.""From working on Giannino’s staff to meeting Galliani? Yes, at that time Giannino (a well-known Milanese restaurant, ed.) was probably the hub of the transfer market and for many club presidents. It was 2006 and that’s where it all began. Galliani was there, along with the top executives and the most important players from all over the world. Most of the business went through there. We’d spend whole nights talking and negotiating about football, and I was lucky enough, whilst serving at the tables, to listen and learn. He (Galliani, ed.) noticed me and gave me the chance to spend time with him running errands, which allowed me to be close to him. We would travel to various locations around Italy, and I was the one in charge of looking after the Champions League trophy: I would leave it in whichever restaurant we were at and make sure nothing happened to it. Beyond the anecdote, the truth is that I tried to follow Galliani as much as possible to learn. Every morning, around nine o’clock, when he was on holiday in Forte Dei Marmi, he would read the newspapers and drink coffee in the little square. My aim was to get there before him so I’d already be there. That’s when the day and the phone calls would begin. I tried to understand how he handled problems, and I would grasp certain dynamics a few days later. It was a real university and still is, because as soon as I have a problem, I seek him out. Every time you have lunch or dinner with him, you come out a different person because he gives you targeted advice."Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting"That was also on Galliani’s advice. I was already doing a bit of work as a football agent with another agent. At one point, he brought his son in to work with him, and Galliani said to me: ‘When the children get involved, everything gets more complicated.’ I was 27 at the time and started thinking about setting up on my own. So I set off, starting by investing in a small office that I shared with other people. To tell the truth, at first my office was my car.""Back then, the great Mino Raiola (an Italian-Dutch manager who passed away in 2022 and was the former agent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli, among others – ed.) also used to hang out with Giannino. I used to watch him, admire him and listen to him a lot, and he gave me some advice that changed my life... One day, whilst I was serving tables, he said to me: ‘I’ve heard you want to become an agent’, having noticed that whilst I was carrying out my work duties, I was trying to stay as close to Galliani as possible. And Mino told me: ‘If you want to become an agent, you have to argue with Galliani’. At the time, I didn’t understand what he meant. It was only a few months later, reflecting on that sentence, that I understood its meaning: he was telling me that to do this job, you have to know how to stand up to even the most powerful figures in the industry, and therefore to Galliani. It’s a question of roles, of cutting the umbilical cord; otherwise, you won’t be recognised.""“We’re talking about 13 years ago. I’d already signed Bryan Cristante, Andrea Petagna and Antonio Caracciolo. These were the first players I signed, and I’m proud to say they’re still with me today. Caracciolo was playing for Pavia, whilst Cristante and Petagna were in Milan’s Primavera team. At the start, there was no money to be made, because the players’ first proper contracts don’t come until later.”"In Italy today, there is a shortage of talent, and this means that it doesn’t take much to hype up a player in situations where it would probably be better to give them a little more time. I always say one thing: in every career path, in every profession, there are inevitably ups and downs. It is in the difficult moments that you really see what a person is made of.""Everything has changed. There used to be these great entrepreneurs who invested money out of passion and did so with genuine feeling. Today, the situation with investment funds is inevitably different. They no longer get carried away by emotion, and there’s a bottom line to consider. So, more often than not, the work becomes less about football and more about finance."