Credit and context
This in-depth feature draws from Andy Bara’s wide-ranging conversation with Livesport podcast. We curated and lightly edited quotations to English for clarity. FootballAgencies.com did not conduct the interview; all quotes originate from Livesport podcast.
A “behind-the-deals” agent, in his own words
Andy Bara is a Croatian football agent and a leading figure at Niagara Sports Company, an agency with a sizeable international client base. Public listings currently show Niagara representing dozens of players across top European leagues, including Dani Olmo and Álvaro Morata.
Bara’s rise is unusual because he frames it less as “entering the industry” and more as solving practical problems for players, then scaling that skill into elite-level dealmaking.
“I started as a player at Legia Warsaw… and I got into agency work during Stanko Svitlica’s transfer to Hannover, when I helped him mainly with communication, because he didn’t speak English.”
That first step became a career pivot.
“Back then I realised this role made more sense to me than the playing career itself.”
The Barnett connection, and learning at the sharp end
Bara also described how relationships and geography matter when the deals get truly massive.
“I was involved in… Gareth Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid, where I helped agents Joshua and Jonathan Barnett (from CAA Stellar) with contacts in Spain…”
He also pointed to his involvement in the market’s modern benchmark deals.
“…and [I was involved] in Joško Gvardiol’s move to Manchester City for 100 million euros.”
In other words: he positions himself not only as a talent-spotter, but as someone who can actually move complex, cross-border negotiations forward when the pressure peaks.
Dani Olmo: spotting a 14-year-old, then mapping the fastest route to the top
Bara’s best-known “origin story” in the public eye is Dani Olmo – the rare La Masia teenager who left Barcelona for Dinamo Zagreb and later became a Champions League level player.
Bara explained his approach as brutally honest career planning: identify bottlenecks, then choose the environment where minutes and responsibility are realistic.
“When he was 14, the scouting told me he’s a top talent… but he was in Barcelona, so I tried to convince him and the family that staying in Barcelona [was] going to be very difficult… Iniesta, Xavi, Messi, Ronaldinho… any position anywhere was full.”
“So I told them that his chance for the next six, seven years, it’s zero to play there. So they understood it.”
“So we went to Dinamo Zagreb, then we went to Leipzig…In the biggest transfer Dinamo Zagreb's history, he was finally sold for a fee of €40mm to Leipzig.”
That path eventually brought Olmo back to Barcelona, with Bara describing the emotional pull of the club and the status that still comes with it.
“To play for Barcelona is a miracle… the biggest players in the history… Ronaldinho, Maradona, Messi… Ronaldo… they played for Barcelona.”
“Dani is proud to be the part of that, and me also, to have the player there.”
The Barcelona registration storm: “Nobody was thinking… that we would leave”
Olmo’s return also coincided with a highly public saga around Barcelona’s finances and player registration rules, which triggered constant speculation about exits and legal workarounds.
Bara’s stance in the interview was calm and defiant.
“Barcelona is one of the biggest few clubs in the world… They know how to finalise their situation.”
“The problem was the stadium. Now when they get back, they’re gonna stabilise very soon.”
“Nobody was thinking in any second that we would leave… We would do anything to stay there.”
Pavel Šulc: why Bara moved fast, and why Lyon’s “10” mattered
From a Czech perspective, the headline was Bara taking on Pavel Šulc in May 2025 and quickly helping engineer a move to Olympique Lyonnais, where Šulc immediately took the number 10 shirt.
Bara said he did not get dragged into agent-to-agent politics. He focused on the player.
“I don’t get involved in the things with agent… I knew that his relation with the agent (previously represented by Nehoda Sport - editor's note)… is not that how it should be.”
He also described the market inefficiency he felt was obvious.
“He was 24 years old… it was very strange that the player with so big, good statistic… is not leaving the Czech Republic.”
The result was a deal that, publicly, was reported as a four-year contract through 2029 with a fee of €7.5m plus bonuses.
Then came the symbolic moment: the “10” conversation.
“It wasn’t easy to convince Lyon to give the No. 10 shirt to a player coming from the Czech Republic. But that’s Pavel’s character – and I hope he won’t be angry with me for saying this. We were at dinner and I told him, ‘Pavel, they have the No. 10 free. What do you think?’ He said, ‘I want to take it.’
Then we met the director and he told us, ‘Listen, you know Lyon – there’s big pressure here. Lyon’s No. 10 is always the biggest player, and maybe it’s not smart to take the No. 10 because of the pressure.’
And Pavel told him, ‘Listen, Matthew, if I don’t deserve it, I promise that in the summer I’ll change it for another number – but I believe in myself.’
That’s what I like about Pavel. He believes in himself. It’s not just talk – he shows it on the pitch. He’s an important player for them, he’s a starter, and I don’t see how they could change him now. I’m sure they wouldn’t sell him. I’ve had questions from big clubs, but I didn’t even ask, because I know they don’t want to sell him.”
“If I don’t deserve it… in the summer I will change it… but I believe in myself.”
Potential Transfer
Bara even floated an eye-catching projection if Šulc’s early output continues.
“If he continues like this – and I think he will – then not this summer, around the World Cup, but the summer after, we can expect a big transfer for Pavel, maybe €40m–€50m.
“Because he’s the kind of player who can take the next step after Lyon. What’s the limit? He can play for any club. If he can do it at Lyon – and they’re flying in Europe in the competition they’re playing – then why should we put a limit on him? He’s one of their best players, so any club can take him after that.”
Morata and the “agent genius” myth
The interview also touched on how fans sometimes see agents: if a player keeps moving between giants, the assumption is the agent is “printing commission.”
Bara pushed back by reframing Morata’s career as elite-level demand over many years.
“Alvaro Morata is a top player… national team player of Spain, European champion with Spain… Barcelona wanted him, everybody, because he’s a top player.”
He acknowledged the sheer scale of Morata’s transfer history, but insisted it was rooted in sporting value.
“He played in Chelsea, Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid… and he always played.”
Bara on Czech football: the comfort-zone problem
One of Bara’s most pointed segments was about why, in his view, Czech talents often stay domestic too long.
“I’m convinced that even today there are players in the Czech league who have the level for European clubs, and yet they stay at home.”
He argued that without proactive international representation, players can be invisible to the biggest decision-makers.
“If you don’t present the player as a project… if you don’t talk about him actively… then for big clubs he basically doesn’t exist.”
And he didn’t spare the cultural angle.
“In Czechia… players are often in the comfort zone… then they’re 25 or 26 and for European clubs they’re old and uninteresting.”
