David Manasseh
Premier League Powerbroker

UK

€2bn

Key Facts

Nationality / residence: British / based in London, United Kingdom
Also known as: Co-founder of Stellar Group
Date of birth: October 1968 (exact day not publicly disclosed)
FIFA Agent Licence: FA-registered Football Agent – FARA0273, active under new regime since at least 2024
Other registrations: The FA – Registered Football Agent (FARA0273; authorised to work with minors until 15 May 2027)
Primary agency / company: CAA Stellar (co-founder; Managing Director / Executive Chairman)
Job Title: Football Intermediary / Player Agent
Client capacity: Global stable via CAA Stellar (c. 900 players across all levels) – Players – Total market value: approx €2bn+ (football clients across top leagues)
Languages: English
Base Locations: London (Mayfair), UK headquarters, with oversight of offices in Europe, North & South America and Asia-Pacific
Specialisms: Elite men’s football, Premier League and La Liga talent, big-ticket transfers, British players, long-term career management, multi-sport crossover (racing, cricket, rugby, NFL)
Email: contact@icmstellar.com (general CAA Stellar contact)
Phone / WhatsApp: Via CAA Stellar London HQ switchboard (61–63 Brook Street, London W1K 4HS)
Website / Socials:
• Website – CAA Stellar: https://www.caastellar.com
• Instagram (personal) – https://www.instagram.com/davidmanasseh_
• Instagram (agency) – https://www.instagram.com/caastellar
• X (agency) – https://x.com/caastellar
• Facebook (agency) – https://www.facebook.com/p/CAA-Stellar-61573578131805
• LinkedIn (agency) – https://www.linkedin.com/company/caastellar

About David Manasseh

Educated at Harrow School, where he captained the First XI and played at Lord’s, David Manasseh originally faced a choice between professional cricket with Somerset and a career in business. After leaving Harrow in 1988 he briefly worked in property before moving into player representation – a decision that laid the foundations for one of the most influential agency careers in modern football.

In 1992 he teamed up with family friend Jonathan Barnett to create Stellar Group, just as the Premier League era was beginning. The pair built the company from a small London operation into a global powerhouse, representing hundreds of players and becoming synonymous with the rise of the “super-agent.” Over time Stellar grew into a multi-sport consultancy and was acquired by ICM and then Creative Artists Agency, re-emerging as CAA Stellar – now marketed as the world’s leading football agency, with a football client market value comfortably above €2bn.

Manasseh’s personal deal sheet includes some of the defining transfers of the modern game. He has been closely associated with Gareth Bale’s world-record move from Tottenham to Real Madrid and Jack Grealish’s British-record transfer from Aston Villa to Manchester City, as well as long-term representation of England internationals such as Jordan Pickford and Luke Shaw. Grealish has publicly referenced Manasseh as the agent with whom he agreed his Villa renewal and the £100m release clause that later enabled his move to Manchester City.

His career has not been completely free of controversy. In 2018 the FA suspended him for three months and fined him £50,000 over a breach related to signing an under-16 player, a charge he denied but served, before resuming full activity and continuing under the FA’s new-era Football Agent regime with registration FARA0273. Despite that episode, the scale and consistency of CAA Stellar’s work, together with its client roster, keep Manasseh firmly in the top tier of intermediaries.

Away from football he is a committed racehorse owner, most notably of Ballyburn, a high-profile Cheltenham Festival winner trained by Willie Mullins. Television interviews at Cheltenham have shown a different side to him – a visibly emotional owner whose nerves over big races rival anything he experiences in transfer windows. That mix of elite deal-making, cross-sport interests and a long history at the top of the industry gives Manasseh a profile that bridges traditional agent work with broader sports entrepreneurship.

Highlights

• Co-founder and senior leader of Stellar / CAA Stellar, one of the largest football agencies globally with c. 900 players and around €2bn in client value

• Proven track record on world-record and British-record transfers (Gareth Bale 2013; Jack Grealish 2021), plus multiple top-six Premier League renewals

• Deep Premier League and England-national-team network, especially with attacking and creative players, backed by regional specialists across Spain, Germany, the Nordics and North America

• Operates within CAA Stellar’s in-house analytics, legal and commercial ecosystem, offering “total management” including performance data, sponsorship, PR and post-career planning

• Media-savvy executive, comfortable in high-profile environments such as Cheltenham, yet long-term relationship-driven with players and their families

Career Snapshot

Origin story
Ex-schoolboy cricket star at Harrow who turned down a professional pathway with Somerset to pursue business and, ultimately, football representation; co-founded Stellar Group with Jonathan Barnett in 1992.

Milestones

• 1992 – Co-founds Stellar Group in London as a boutique agency focused on British talent

• 2013 – Plays a central role as Stellar negotiates Gareth Bale’s then world-record transfer from Tottenham to Real Madrid

• 2018 – Serves FA suspension over an underage-player issue; returns to work and remains on the FA’s updated list of registered football agents

• 2020 – Stellar is sold and integrated into CAA to form CAA Stellar, with Manasseh remaining a key director and football figurehead

• 2021 – Oversees the agency side of Jack Grealish’s £100m move from Aston Villa to Manchester City on a six-year deal

• 2023–2025 – Continues to front CAA Stellar’s elite-player work (including Jordan Pickford’s long-term Everton renewal and Ivan Toney’s top-level representation) while enjoying Cheltenham Festival success with Ballyburn

Network strengths

• Premier League – deep ties at Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton, Nottingham Forest and other English clubs via long-term client relationships

• La Liga and European giants – agency representation for players at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Liverpool

• Multi-continent footprint – London HQ plus satellite offices across Europe, North America and other key markets, supporting local-language negotiation and scouting

Support Team / Partners

• Jonathan Barnett – Co-founder and long-time partner, associated with several of the agency’s landmark deals

• Patrick McCabe – Managing Director / President, CAA Stellar North America, focusing on MLS and the wider CONCACAF region

• European office leads – including CAA Stellar Germany, Nordics, Spain, Benelux and France, providing local scouting and club-relations coverage

• In-house data & analysis team – dedicated analysts producing detailed performance and video reports to support contract and transfer strategy

• Legal, tax and wealth-planning advisors – external specialists in the UK, Spain and other jurisdictions integrated into CAA Stellar’s “total-management” service

• PR, commercial and social-media staff – brand and sponsorship experts who manage player image, campaigns and media positioning

Client Roster

Players – Total market value: approx €2bn+ (CAA Stellar football clients across all agencies, late 2024–2025)

Top players and talents (current)

• Jack Grealish (Everton – on loan from Manchester City) – Left winger / attacking midfielder – England – 10 September 1995

• Jordan Pickford (Everton) – Goalkeeper – England – 7 March 1994

• Ibrahima Konaté (Liverpool) – Centre-back – France – 25 May 1999

• Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid) – Central midfielder – France – 10 November 2002

• Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United) – Central midfielder – England – 19 April 2005

• Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) – Attacking midfielder / forward – England – 27 January 2000

• Ben Chilwell (Strasbourg, on loan from Chelsea per agency listing) – Left-back – England – 21 December 1996

• Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa) – Centre-back – England – 23 October 1997

• Rayan Aït-Nouri (Manchester City, per agency listing) – Left-back / wing-back – Algeria/France – 6 June 2001

• Ivan Toney (Al-Ahli) – Centre-forward – England – 16 March 1996

• Unai Simón (Athletic Club) – Goalkeeper – Spain – 11 June 1997

• Omar Marmoush (Manchester City, per agency listing) – Forward – Egypt – 7 February 1999

• Fermin López (Barcelona) – Attacking midfielder – Spain – 11 May 2003

• Alex Baena (Atlético Madrid) – Midfielder – Spain – 20 July 2001

• Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest) – Midfielder – Scotland/England – 6 November 2002

Rising talents / U23 (selection)

• Yéremy Pino (Crystal Palace) – Winger – Spain – 20 October 2002

• Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton & Hove Albion) – Midfielder / full-back – England – 11 April 2005

• Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United) – Winger / forward – Italy – 5 November 2003

• Tobias Slotsager (Hellas Verona) – Centre-back – Denmark – 4 January 2006

• João Conceição (Benfica U23) – Wide forward – Portugal – 4 February 2004

Coaches/Staff represented

• Various Premier League, EFL and European coaches – generally handled within CAA Stellar’s dedicated coaches and staff vertical; individual names are mostly kept private

Notable former clients

• Gareth Bale – Long-time flagship client; represented through Tottenham and Real Madrid years before retiring in 2023

• Luke Shaw – England and Manchester United left-back, historically part of the Stellar client stable

• Saúl Ñíguez – Spain international midfielder previously represented by the agency

• Ruben Loftus-Cheek – England midfielder formerly included in Stellar’s portfolio

Notable Deals Led by David Manasseh

• 2013 – Gareth Bale: Tottenham Hotspur → Real Madrid, approx €100m, six-year contract; then world-record transfer with Stellar central to negotiations

• 2015–2021 – Jack Grealish: Aston Villa renewals and 2021 transfer to Manchester City; renewal including £100m release clause followed by British-record six-year move to City

• 2020 – Ben Chilwell: Leicester City → Chelsea, approx £50m, long-term deal; a flagship left-back transfer of that window

• 2020s – Jordan Pickford: multiple Everton renewals, most recently a long-term extension to 2027, securing England’s No.1 at club level

• 2020s – Ivan Toney: representation and repositioning at elite level, with agency involvement in negotiating a high-value move from Brentford to a top-tier destination

Track Record (last 3 seasons – CAA Stellar under Manasseh’s leadership)

• Total transfers completed: approx 275 across top-five leagues, secondary European leagues, MLS and other markets

• Deals ≥ €10m: approx 22, including multiple Premier League and La Liga headline moves

• Clients in top-5 leagues: around 340 players across England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France

• National team clients: 60+ players at recent major tournaments, with around 15 reaching finals

• Renewal / extension deals: dozens of top-flight renewals, especially in the Premier League and La Liga

• Aggregate client market value: approx €2bn+ for CAA Stellar football clients (late 2024–2025)

Compliance & Accreditation

• FA Registered Football Agent – FARA0273, including authorisation to work with minors under the FA’s current rules

• Operates under FIFA’s Football Agent Regulations via FA licensing

• Supported by CAA Stellar’s legal, governance and back-office teams, including in-house and external advisors across key football jurisdictions

Testimonials

• Jack Grealish – England international:
  “After the United game I said to Christian Purslow and my agent David Manasseh that if I wasn’t leaving, I’d sign my new contract.”

• Irish Examiner – national media:
  “David Manasseh is… a football super-agent, with Gareth Bale and Jack Grealish among others on his books.”

• Brum-based business feature:
  “Among these elite is David Manasseh, a driving force in football talent management and wealth creation.”

Press, Awards & Recognition

• Frequently profiled in UK and Irish national media as a leading “football super-agent,” often in the context of both major transfers and Cheltenham Festival coverage

• Subject of detailed business and net-worth features positioning him among the most powerful figures in football management

• Co-founder and long-time leader of an agency recognised by industry rankings and data sites as a global leader in player representation with a €2bn+ client portfolio

• Named in FA disciplinary communications and later in the FA’s official register of football agents, reflecting both regulatory scrutiny and institutional recognition