No agent, no problem: Kylian Mbappé’s unique model

March 10, 2026 Oliver Obel

In modern football, the world’s biggest players are typically surrounded by powerful agents negotiating transfers, sponsorships and media deals worth millions.

Kylian Mbappé took another path.

Rather than building his career around a traditional football agent, the French superstar operates within a carefully managed structure run largely by his family and a small network of advisers. The approach has helped shape one of the most tightly controlled personal brands in global sport.

The system began long before Mbappé became a World Cup winner.

A family-first approach

When Mbappé was emerging as a precocious talent in the Paris suburb of Bondy, agents quickly began circling. Dozens contacted the family hoping to represent the young forward.

They were repeatedly turned away.

According to reporting by The Guardian and material from Philippe Auclair’s book The Mbappé Project – Making a Superstar, the family decided early on that they would manage his career themselves rather than rely on outside intermediaries.

Responsibilities were divided at home. Mbappé’s father, Wilfrid, focused on sporting development, while his mother Fayza handled commercial strategy and image rights. Kylian himself kept the final say on decisions affecting his career.

The structure still defines how the player operates today. Mbappé does not work with a FIFA-licensed agent, and the financial rewards from his club contracts and endorsement deals remain largely within the family’s control.

A few trusted voices

That does not mean the project operates in complete isolation.

A small number of advisers have played supporting roles at key moments in Mbappé’s career.

One of them is Luís Campos, the Portuguese football executive who held senior sporting roles at Monaco, Lille and later Paris Saint-Germain. Campos became a trusted confidant during Mbappé’s formative years at Monaco, where he helped smooth some of the challenges the young striker encountered early in his professional career.

Another occasional adviser has been Bilel Ghazi, a former journalist with the French sports newspaper L’Équipe, who offered guidance on media strategy.

Neither, however, became part of the family’s inner circle.

The lawyer who changed everything

As Mbappé approached his first professional contract with Monaco, the family realised that managing the career of a teenage prodigy would soon require more formal expertise.

Instead of hiring a conventional football agent, Fayza Mbappé contacted a lawyer.

In 2015 she approached Delphine Verheyden, a Paris-based attorney who had previously worked with several elite French Olympians. Mbappé, then only 16, would become her first football client.

“I didn’t know Kylian, I don’t know anything about football, I accept that,” Verheyden told Ouest France in 2022. “And that’s exactly what Fayza was looking for. This extraordinary woman touched me, I wanted to help her.”

Verheyden already had experience representing high-profile athletes such as judo champion Teddy Riner and biathlon star Martin Fourcade. Her role with Mbappé soon expanded far beyond traditional contract negotiations.

A different business model

Her approach also stands out in an industry dominated by commission-based agents.

Rather than taking a percentage of deals, Verheyden charges clients an hourly legal fee. She has argued that commissions can create conflicts of interest by encouraging advisers to prioritise lucrative contracts over long-term career decisions.

Today she oversees a legal team coordinating roughly 30 staff members working across Mbappé’s image rights, investments and commercial ventures.

A management team led by women

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Mbappé’s operation is who runs it.

In a sport still heavily dominated by male executives and agents, several key figures in the player’s professional life are women.

Public-relations strategist Patricia Goldman helps shape Mbappé’s communication strategy, while criminal lawyer Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard represented him when he was cleared of rape allegations in 2024.

International tax matters are handled by Barbara Uzzan, a specialist who advises French clients operating in the United States. She is also connected to Zebra Valley LLC, the California-based company Mbappé and his mother created in 2022 to manage business activities in the American market.

The centre of the project

Despite the growing network of advisers, one figure remains central to the entire structure.

Fayza Mbappé.

Her influence has shaped nearly every stage of her son’s rise — from the early decision to reject traditional agents to the creation of a management system designed to protect both the athlete and the global brand he has become.

In a sport where players often surrender control to powerful intermediaries, the Mbappé project stands out as something different: a family-built enterprise guiding the career of one of football’s biggest stars.

Sources: The Guardian; The Mbappé Project – Making a Superstar by Philippe Auclair; Ouest France.