Befitting a man with interests as wide-ranging as football agency, lecturing on sports law and authoring books which reveal the dark underbelly of football in Europe and beyond, Dr Erkut Sogut proves well informed and passionately concerned about several issues still afflicting 'the beautiful game'.
Sometimes, for all the goals and the glory, there lies an uglier affair around its fringes, where Sogut sets his latest literary offering 'Remember My Name'. An absorbing tale of exploitation, in which a Nigerian boy, Afam, and an aspiring journalist find themselves enmeshed in the murky world of player trafficking, does not lack drama - and the book was written following extensive research by a man who takes his subject matter seriously.
"When I write these novels, and this is the second now, I choose a topic which is within my world. I research it like a journalist, dig into it very deeply; I go to places. Of course, I've met a lot of players from Africa in the last 20 years and I know their stories, but that's not enough for me. So I really go there," Sogut told Sports Mole.
"I've been to Ghana - Accra - I've been to Lagos, Nairobi. On the ground, I met people from academies, officials, players. I met media people and really investigated the subject."
One of the central characters in 'Remember My Name' is a British investigative journalist named Annabel, who in the next novel in Sogut's series - due to be published later this year - will immerse herself in the world of racism within German football.
Using similar skills, Germany-born Sogut mapped out the issue of trafficking from Africa, including which countries, academies and even airports are hotspots for aspiring hopefuls to be brought into Europe, only to be exploited in one way or another.
Part of the process was working with two PhD students who knew the topic in detail, and he now hopes his fictionalised account can draw more attention to child trafficking and modern slavery.
FIFA refers to any instances of underage players - sometimes as young as 13 years old - being brought into club academies as 'a breach of Article 19', but Sogut believes football has to name and address the problem directly.
In the past, Barcelona and Chelsea have both been implicated in signing players before the correct age, but fines and warnings couched in technical language have not brought an end to such shady practises yet.
He suggests a solution to stopping the flow could involve raising standards and opportunities within African football, but admits that "working with governments and federations on the ground is not that easy". Creating more legal routes for players to follow would also stop "so-called agents" exploiting children and their families.
Many young men are left stranded in Europe: "In football, we don't want to talk about that; we just want to concentrate on the beauty of the game."
At a conservative estimate, the UN's figures claim between 15,000 to 20,000 children make the journey from Africa every year.
An example Sogut gives of a boy who travelled four hours by bus to meet him in Nairobi saw the youngster's dreams of a football future in Europe exploited by traffickers impersonating an official from Bundesliga club Werder Bremen - his whole village had clubbed together to come up with the money, some $3,000.
© Erkut Sogut
Having held talks about his first book 'Deadline' - which dealt with nepotism within football - becoming a film or series, Dr Sogut's latest publication also seems to lend itself to a multi-part drama. He says: "It was never my first intention, but with a movie, we can reach even more people."
His primary profession, football agency, is also in need of reform, he believes: "People can register themselves as an agent on the FA website without having any kind of educational background. It's: 'pay a £500 fee and welcome to the world of being a football agent'. Then you can represent any player - how is that possible?
"It's a big mess created by FIFA's deregulation in 2015, but during the World Cup they announced new regulations (set to be published later this month) that will come into effect by the end of the year. They will now have to pass an exam in their particular country and take part in ongoing education."
Forthcoming changes to cap agents' earnings from transfer fees for the first time would be a bad idea, according to Sogut, who believes smaller agencies working at a lower level would suffer as a result. As such, football agencies will join up and grow ever greater in size, while some will be swallowed up by huge US organisations.
Indeed, the Florida-based founder of GROW agency thinks American influence on football overall will expand exponentially ahead of the next World Cup - partly hosted in the United States - and beyond. Major League Soccer, he says, has the potential to become the sport's second-best league behind only its undisputed industry leader, the Premier League, where several English clubs' ownership already lies in American hands.
Already ditching the model of mixing young unknowns with overripe veterans, MLS now imports some of the best young players from South America, Africa and even Europe. Sogut says their approach is: "Why not bring them here and develop them for a few years, then sell to the top European clubs? Also, the facilities and the stadiums are amazing, and so many young people play football here now."
Concluding his thoughts on the state of the game today, Dr Sogut raises the ever-present ill of racism in football - an issue which tarnished his time as a young hopeful within the academy structure in Germany. Frankfurt and Dortmund, in particular, he claims have ongoing problems that "go under the radar".
"Through football, through sport, certain people live out their racism," he continues. "I have so many things to tell about that - it's authentic, I'm writing about something I know very well, but from different perspectives.
"We have these campaigns in football, 'No Racism', but it's all bullshit - it doesn't reach the people in the fifth and sixth tiers. It's for the media, it's not a real campaign."
Having guided Mesut Ozil, who has endured a rocky relationship with the German football public, through his moves to Arsenal and Fenerbahce in the past, Sogut agrees that players of dual nationality - such as Karim Benzema, Romelu Lukaku and his own high-profile client - can feel excluded when the going gets tough.
"They are always forced to choose: are you French or are you Moroccan? You can be both, you should be proud to have both. You can live both cultures in a beautiful way - it's enriching to people."
Players with huge social media profiles, such as Ozil and Mohamed Salah, can provide a great example he says, and the latter "is a great model for living his religion at the same time". These stars "should become leaders to help others believe and trust in themselves".
Such a shift can be beneficial for all, Sogut says: "If you don't know about something, you fear it," which is apt for someone so motivated to shine a light on the issues afflicting the people's game.
Remember My Name by Erkut Sogut is out now in ebook and paperback.
Jonathan O'Shea
