The agent of former Liverpool starlet Bobby Duncan, Saif Rubie, has penned a lengthy message after sealing his client’s exit from the club on Monday.
The highly-rated teenage forward completed a European deadline day move to Italian outfit Fiorentina after an acrimonious fall-out with the Reds precipitated by Rubie. Now, the agent has spoken out.
“To be in the top 1% you have to be prepared to do what 99% of the rest won’t do,” he wrote on his personal Instagram account. “In my line of work I know nobody even comes near. Not everything in life is black and white and you have to be able to adapt and roll with the punches.
“Now @bobbyduncan has the opportunity to live and experience something not many young English players have done. That’s what leaders do. We are not followers. Thanks to all the people who have supported me in this difficult period means a lot. The joy of getting the job done makes all the struggle and doubt worthwhile. PS @princeboateng you better look after our little brother.”
OPINION
Clearly Rubie is pretty happy with how everything went down between him, his client and Liverpool Football Club. He’s an agent and so he’s going to look out for his own interests, but has he really done the right thing for Duncan, here? The lad is only 18 years of age and is now being foisted into a completely new culture and environment. He may well thrive as a result of the challenge, as Jadon Sancho has done at Borussia Dortmund, but he could also fall flat on his face amid the potential loneliness and hardship of life in Italy. Rubie seems to think that his conduct has been absolutely spot on throughout this saga – that in his line of work ‘nobody even comes near’. But this whole situation may in future be used as a warning to young players to pick their agents carefully and decide their own fate, rather than relying on the counsel of people who are only protecting their own interests. Still, we will have to wait a few years to see how this all plays out for Duncan.
