Gareth Bale and Jack Grealish now share an agent. You may think that wouldn't have any effect on the Aston Villa youngster's impending choice of whether to play for Ireland or England, but you'd be very much mistaken.
Speaking at the Soccerex Convention in Manchester today, Jonathan Barnett has revealed how he opened up the possibility of Gareth Bale playing for England when he was just 15. Bale's parents were having none of it at the time and that's something which, according to Barnett, has seriously affected the Welsh star's bank balance in the intervening years.
When we first got together when he was 15, we talked about whether he was going to play for England or Wales. I nearly got my head bitten off by his dad, who is fanatically Welsh, and his mum.
He could have qualified through his grandmother and I tell you that it has cost him millions and millions of pounds. You can imagine what it would have been like if he were playing for England next summer in the Euros... but he does love playing for Wales.
Given that Barnett is also advising Grealish, it's very difficult not to draw parallels between the two players. Judging by those comments alone, it would be fair to say the Barnett's primary concern is making as much money for his client as possible, which is not exactly surprising.
It's also not stretching things to say that Grealish, like Bale, would be more marketable if he was an English superstar. So, if he does choose to listen to the advice of his agent, then you would have to conclude that it's unlikely we'll be seeing him in an Irish jersey again.
