The 20-year ascent of Mendes from Porto nightclub owner and friend of footballers to the beaming broker of the game’s most lucrative transfers has tracked the sport’s pay-TV-fuelled inflation itself, and Portugal’s status as a habitual exporter of players. Mendes built his name and the operation of his company, Gestifute, on attaining a remarkable dominance over the deals done by Portugal’s top three clubs, and he took several of these players on multi-million pound moves to England and Spain. There he has extended his influence, particularly after his client, José Mourinho, made the journey himself from Porto after 2004, to sign as the manager at Chelsea, then Internazionale and Real Madrid, now Chelsea again.

“When I did the kung fu kick on the hooligan, because these kind of people don’t have to be at the game … it’s like a dream for some, you know sometimes to kick these kind of people. So I did it for the fans, so they are happy. It’s a kind of freedom for them. They [still] speak about that because maybe they felt it, because they felt something special physically – maybe it was a different feeling. It’s a great feeling, but different. I have seen so many players scoring goals, they know this kind of feeling. This one – a player jumping and kicking a hooligan – it’s not the kind of thing you see every day.”

Wenn Berbatov früh in Gang kommt, zerglegt er fast maschinenartig seine Gegner. Technik, Abspiel, Abschluss, Berbatov kann alles, er ist der Roger Federer des Fußballs. 17 Tore in 19 Premier-League-Spielen hat er in der laufenden Saison geschossen. Gestern traf er beim 5:0-Sieg gegen Birmingham City wieder einmal dreifach. Humorlos, wie man so sagt.

Dimitar Berbatow beherrscht das allwöchentliche „Acht gegen Acht“-Spiel auf Manchester Uniteds Trainingsgelände mit absolutistischem Selbstanspruch. Majestätisch schlendert er mit dem Ball am Fuß über den Platz, 15 andere Profis wollen das Leder haben, „Berba, Berba“, schreien die Mitspieler mit einer Mischung aus Bewunderung und Verzweiflung. Das Tempo ist hoch, der Platz knapp, aber nie für den Bulgaren. Wenn er den Ball führt, scheinen die Sekunden langsamer zu verstreichen. Wann und ob er abspielt, bestimmt nur er.