Darren Dein: Henry’s best man who brought the Spotify deal closer

“I see in the room one of the people who has suffered the most from the agreement with Spotify and I want to thank him”. After that phrase by Joan Laporta, the Barça TV cameras immediately turned to a man in a suit with the relevant accreditation from the Assembly of Delegates. Era Darren Yours. He has acted as an intermediary in the negotiation between Barça and the Swedish company that he directs Daniel Ekbut the commission that has been carried in the operation is unknown. Barça has a rule that sets between two and four percent commissions in this type of operationbut Juli Guiu, vice president of the Barça club’s marketing area, refused to reveal it because that figure could be the trace to know the total cost of the sponsorship and would violate the confidentiality agreement with Spotify.

But who is Darren Dein? Son of David Yoursformer owner of Arsenal and ambassador of the Premier and of the FAis a lawyer who started working in the world of football with Jerome Andersonthe owner of the company Sports Enterteinment & Media Group. Anderson was the first intermediary to bring foreign players to the Premier. Among them, Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars. From him he learned the arts of the trade.

Married in 2002 to Sara Buchlerdaughter of the former vice president of Tottenham, David Buchler, Your he was always linked, for obvious reasons, to the other big team in North London. agency manager Double Da part of the gunner fans blamed him for years for facilitating the exit to do business of legends like Henry, Cesc, Adebayor or Van Persie; even from players like Clichy o Alex Song. All for his own benefit. To the Cameroonian, midfielder with controversial performance, took him to Barça during the presidency of Sandro Rosell.

But the great ‘business’ of Darren Dein’s life has been Thierry Henrywho not only represents. He was the best man at her wedding and, to this day, he still acts as a representative of the now coach through the Double D agency, in which he obtained a respectable portfolio of players, among which he continues to appear Cesc (who signed for Barça), Bojan or the veterans Shaun y Bradley Wright-Philipssons of Ian Wright, Arsenal legend of the 90s. He also manages the affairs of coaches such as Kolo Touré or Tim Cahill.

Linked to Laporta since the negotiation for Thierry Henrywho was about to become a Barça player in 2006 but had to wait another year after losing the Champions League final in Paris, the president found in Dein the perfect contact to start negotiations with the company Daniel Ek. Perhaps, and among other things, because Dein brokered an Arsenal purchase on Ek’s behalf that Stan Kroenke did not allow… After 89.1% of the compromising partners ratified the agreement, he shouted: “We got it!”. She then joked with him in codes only readable by Dein: “Remember! In the lobby, in the lobby,” she sang along to the chords of the Village People song to Darren Dein’s satisfaction. She sure has it on his Spotify playlist…