May 3 – One of the game’s most colourful and controversial figures, football agent Mino Raiola died at the age of 54, his family confirmed on Saturday.
Raiola passed away after a brief illness. “It is with infinite sadness that we announce the passing of the kindest and coolest player agent who ever lived,” said the family in a statement. “Mino fought to the end with the same strength he put on negotiation tables to defend our players. As usual, Mino made us proud and never realised it.”
Last week, major outlets reported his passing prematurely, much to the agent’s annoyance. The family didn’t reveal the illness that led to Raiola’s death. In January, he had also been submitted to hospital, even though Raiola explained his stay as routine.
Born in 1968 in Nocera Inferiore in southern Italy, Raiola and his family moved to Haarlem in the Netherlands where he worked in his father’s pizzeria before becoming a football agent and rapidly making his way in the football industry. The Italian made his big breakthrough in 1996 when he transferred Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved to Lazio Roma.
A hero to some, a villain to others, he was the agent of some of the game’s marquee players, including Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gianluigi Donnarumma and the young Norwegian star Erling Haaland. All of them loyally defended their agent, who often attracted criticism for the huge commissions he earned.
He’d often show up at business meetings dressed badly so that others would underestimate him. The strategy worked. Raiola earned €27 million ($28.3 million), according to former Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta, from the sale of France international Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United for a world-record transfer fee of €105 million.
Raiola ruffled feathers in the game. He rowed with Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola and he took on FIFA’s proposed reform of how agents can operate in the game.
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