While there are many player agencies with more clients than Gestifute, none can rival the Portuguese group’s ability to attract genuine soccer superstars.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lamine Yamal, and Vitinha are just some of the elite talents they represent. That puts the agency in a unique position to influence player movements at the very highest level of the game.
Virtually every major club in Europe currently has at least one Gestifute client, but it’s taken an incredible rise from humble origins for them to reach that point.
The Origins of Gestifute
Gestifute was founded by Jorge Mendes in 1996. The Lisbon native was a former semi-professional soccer player who tried his hand at various businesses before deciding to pursue a career as a sports agent.
Those worlds collided when he famously met Nuno Espírito Santo, then a budding young goalkeeper, at a nightclub he owned. Mendes went on to represent Nuno and brokered his move to Deportivo La Coruña in 1997, the first deal of note involving the Gestifute agency.
🚨 Jorge Mendes: “Lamine Yamal deserves to win the Ballon d’Or this year”.
“He’s been the best player in the world this season, that’s very clear. Lamine’s level has been worth the Ballon d’Or”. pic.twitter.com/zbwWdu7zKu
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 12, 2025
Mendes was still essentially unknown at that point, but he gradually built a small client list in the Portuguese market. His ability to build relationships and provide the human touch in a competitive industry helped him work with some of the brightest young stars at Porto, Benfica, and Sporting at that time.
Hugo Viana and Ricardo Quaresma were notable early clients, with Mendes already showing a knack for identifying talents capable of going on to achieve big things.
Cristiano Ronaldo and the Rise to Global Dominance
It’s fair to say that Gestifute’s path was changed forever after Mendes started representing a young Sporting player by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo in the early 2000s. It was the Portuguese agent who brokered his move to Manchester United in 2003.
Representing the hottest young talent on the planet clearly had its perks for Gestifute. It enabled them to broaden their horizons and add far more clients from outside of Portugal, with players keen to work with the agency that had helped put Ronaldo on course to become a global icon.
Mendes became more and more visible every time Ronaldo signed a new contract or endorsement, and he was ahead of the game in terms of knowing how to manage the marketability of his clients.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first billionaire footballer, according to @business 💰 pic.twitter.com/DE4hEAzy91
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 8, 2025
Negotiating transfers, such as Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid in 2009, and contract extensions was only a small part of the work Gestifute did. They also mastered the art of building a brand around their biggest client, with CR7 turned into a commercial empire that ventured into many different sectors, from sportswear to fragrances and hotels.
While few of their other clients could compete with Ronaldo’s star power, Gestifute changed the way many players sought representation. There was now a whole new world of opportunities for the best soccer players to supplement their earnings, aside from their growing club salaries.
Jorge Mendes’ Huge Impact on the Transfer Market
The relationship between Ronaldo and Mendes was clearly mutually beneficial, and it helped usher in the era of the so-called “super agent.”
Suddenly, players at all of the top clubs wanted to work with the Portuguese, who has been voted the best agent in the world by Globe Soccer on 12 occasions since 2010. Federico Pastorello and the late Mino Raiola are the only other recipients of the award.
🚨🟡⚫️ The negotiations between Sergio Conceicao and Al-Ittihad were led by renowned agent “Jorge Mendes” 🤝
(@maisfutebol)#IttihadCore | #AlIttihad pic.twitter.com/SiqCnGwct3
— Ittihad Core (@ittihadcore) October 8, 2025
As the public face of the Gestifute group, Mendes has worked on some enormous deals, including João Félix’s €126 million ($142 million) move to Atlético Madrid from Benfica in 2019, which remains the fourth most expensive transfer of all time. He also represented José Mourinho when he was the hottest rising managerial property in the 2000s, brokering his moves to Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Real Madrid.
More controversially, Mendes has also developed strong relationships with certain clubs. His impact on Portuguese soccer remains enormous, and the likes of Benfica and Porto have often benefited from his ability to drive up market values and export their brightest young talents.
However, he’s also faced criticism for having too much influence over certain clubs and for taking large cuts from transfers. The Madrid clubs, Manchester United, and Chelsea have frequently recruited Gestifute players, while Wolves have had a particular dependency on working with Mendes, which some fans view as unhealthy.
Gestifute Still Sweeping up the Stars of Tomorrow
The agency is currently believed to represent over 150 players. That’s some way shy of the 900 on the books of CAA Stellar, formerly owned by Jonathan Barnett, or the Wasserman group, which represents more than 1000 professional soccer players.
Portuguese football agent Jorge Mendes with Aitana Bonmatí after she won her third consecutive Ballon d’Or. 🏆🇵🇹
📸 @polarissports pic.twitter.com/bcVuFsp5b8
— Football Agents (@_FootballAgents) September 23, 2025
However, Gestifute’s portfolio is more impressive in terms of the caliber of their clients. That’s largely thanks to their talent-spotting abilities, with the likes of Lamine Yamal picked up by the group before he even made his debut for the Barcelona first team. Mendes played a key role in negotiating the teenager’s new contract in May, which made the winger one of the club’s highest earners.
Meanwhile, the best young Portuguese players continue to flock to Gestifute. The group represents the PSG trio of Gonçalo Ramos, Vitinha, and João Neves, as well as Manchester City’s Rúben Dias, Bernardo Silva, and Matheus Nunes.
The agency also manages youngsters such as Karim Adeyemi, Leny Yoro, Alejandro Balde, and Bradley Barcola. With that mix of elite talent, Mendes and Gestifute remain well-positioned to continue to shape the journeys of many of soccer’s biggest rising stars.
