The agency which represents star players like Gareth Bale and Jack Grealish has been bought by an American firm.

The Stellar Group represents athletes across a range of sports and holds current contracts with its clients worth close to a combined three billion US dollars (over £2.3billion).

It has now been bought by ICM Partners, which represents celebrities such as Beyonce Knowles-Carter, Jerry Seinfeld and Samuel L Jackson, and will be known as ICM Stellar Sports.

Stellar Group chairman Jonathan Barnett, who represents Wales star Bale and who will now be executive chairman of the new entity, said: “ICM are a great media company and entertainment company, and their marketing side will benefit our players enormously.

“A lot of our players are famous throughout the world, so they need a big company like ICM to get involved and help us with the marketing. Also, with ICM, we are going to grow a whole new sports company, so for Stellar it’s a big thing.”

Asked if a commercial partnership with an entertainment company was a natural fit, Barnett added: “I think it is, especially if you look at social media. The footballers, the sports stars have as many followers as Hollywood stars and singers.

“They have become global superstars, so it’s a great fit. One of the reasons we’ve done this deal is that ICM is an entertainment company, Stellar is a sports company.

“ICM didn’t have a sports division, now they’ve got one and they’re starting with the biggest football agency, but we’re also going to go into basketball and American football and other sports to build up a really global sports agency now.”