Mino Raiola passes on at 54

One of the most powerful agents in football, Mino Raiola, whose high profile clients included Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland has died at the age of 54.

“In infinite sorrow, we share the passing of the most caring and amazing Football Agent that ever was,” the Italian’s family said in a message on Twitter.

“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.”

Raiola’s family did not specify the nature of his sickness, although he had been admitted to Milan’s San Raffaele hospital, where he had previously survived scares.

His death came two days after Italian media claimed his death, only for his agency, the director of San Raffaele’s intensive care unit, and finally the guy himself to deny he had died.

Over the course of a long career as both a powerful agency and a divisive figure in the sport, Raiola amassed a glittering roster of athletes, including AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

He was chastised for the large sums he made in commissions from his agreements, as well as the massive inflation in player pay that he helped to foster since the 1990s — incomes that have soared to previously inconceivable levels.

Raiola was born in the southern Italian town of Nocera Inferiore, but his family moved to Haarlem, the Netherlands, when he was only one year old.

He began his career at his family’s pizzeria in the historic city before embarking on a long journey to become one of football’s most powerful agents.

He would routinely butt into conversations between the directors of local side Haarlem FC, whose board would dine at the pizzeria at least once a week, providing his opinion on the club’s state, whether or not it was solicited.

Raiola worked as a technical director at Haarlem for a short time before joining the Sports Promotions firm, which specialized in bringing high-profile Dutch players to Italy.

However, he had grander goals for himself, and his first big break came in the form of Pavel Nedved in 1996.

– Outspoken –

It was Raiola who brought Nedved, the exquisite Czech midfielder who is now a director at Juventus, to Lazio in 1996, when Serie A was the strongest league in the world and the Roman club one of its best.

Raiola rose to the top of his profession from there, and when he did, he didn’t pull any punches.

He had a falling out with players like Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola over how he ran his business, suggesting that Cruyff and Guardiola, then at Barcelona, “go to a mental hospital together, shut up, sit there and play cards.”

Raiola earned 27 million euros ($28.3 million) on the sale of France star Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United in the summer of 2016, according to former Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta.

After a squabble on British radio station TalkSport in 2020 over Ibrahimovic’s desire to sue video game company EA Sports for image rights, Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan dubbed him “a parasite.”

He also led the Football Forum, which threatened FIFA with legal action last year over the planned commission cap, which he saw as a breach of competition freedom.

His players, on the other hand, continually praised the man who steered their careers and stuffed their bank accounts with large quantities of money.

“Shall I spell it out here? Mino is a genius,” Ibrahimovic wrote in his 2011 autobiography.