Former Machester United Starlet Used ChatGPT To Negotiate Leyton Orient Move

• Former Manchester United player Demetri Mitchell says ChatGPT helped him negotiate his transfer to Leyton Orient.
• The 28-year-old completed the move without an agent, calling the AI tool his “best agent to date.”
• Mitchell also criticised the state of football agency work in the lower leagues, calling many agents “money-hungry.”

Former Manchester United youth prospect Demetri Mitchell has revealed that he used ChatGPT to help negotiate his transfer to League One club Leyton Orient, describing the AI software as his “best agent to date.”

Mitchell began his career at Old Trafford, making one league appearance before moving on to spells at Hearts, Blackpool, Hibernian, and Exeter City. After leaving Exeter this summer, the 28-year-old made the move to Leyton Orient on a free transfer, without using an agent.

“They [Leyton Orient] sent me an offer, and I started using ChatGPT, asking it how to negotiate a deal, and what to say in it,” Mitchell said on the From My Left podcast.

“This is what I was on last season, moving to London, cost of living, missus is gonna move down with me, my little one. I did think I was worth a little bit more as well, but you don’t want to be like that, ‘Oh, yeah I think I should be worth an X amount.’

“And then, also because I didn’t use the agent, I get that [agent fee] as a signing-on fee. [An] agent might have got me a couple hundred pound more, because in these deals there’s not loads of money going on, it’s not big, big amounts.

“So the agent might have got me a couple hundred more, and then the percent that I would have to pay them, the difference, is going to be eaten up anyway.”

Mitchell also criticised the football agent system, arguing that players in the lower leagues often have limited options for meaningful representation.

“There’s three types of agents,” he said. “There’s the agent that works for an agency, who’s just getting a salary, then you got agent number two, who works for a big agency and they’re trying to sign young, up-and-coming prospects and then once you’re not one of them prospects anymore, they’re not interested.

“And then there’s agent number three, the one that’s got their own business, [that are] just money-hungry … So they just want to get moves anywhere and anywhere fast.

“When you’re in the lower leagues, it’s difficult to get a good agent, because that’s all you’ve got to work with.”

Mitchell represented England at youth levels from Under-16 to Under-20 and was named in Jamaica’s preliminary 60-man squad for the 2025 Gold Cup.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.

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