RAIOLA. Initially announced dead by the Italian press, Mino Raiola himself denied the information but is in a very worrying state.
The famous and whimsical football agent Mino Raiola was announced dead at first before several people, including relatives, quickly denied the information. Mino Raiola himself posted a message on his twitter account: “Current state of health for those who are wondering: pissed off. 2nd time in 4 months that they have killed me. It seems that I am able to resuscitate.”
Despite this ironic response, the state of health of Mino Raiola is considered worrying. Very close to him, the Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic went Thursday afternoon to the San Raffaele hospital to visit Raiola according to the Gazzetta dello Sport. Many players have also posted messages of support for their agent, such as Italian Mario Balotelli: “I love you, hold on Mino.“
Mino Raiola, his death announced by mistake
The whimsical football agent Mino Raiola was announced dead at the age of 54 this Thursday, April 28. The information was given by the transalpine journalist Tancredi Palmieri then confirmed by the Gazzetta dello Sport before the latter was denied by several relatives including the author of the first tweet Tancredi Palmeri.
I deleted tweet about Raiola.
It wasnt speculation or run to be first.
Id never do any like this on such matter.News was broke by TgLa7, most rated Italian tv news; confirmed by all Italian biggest media.
But I did tweet wrong too, therefore I am mortified and apologise
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) April 28, 2022
While he would have been admitted to intensive care last January for a lung disease, Mino Raiola would be in critical condition. “I am outraged by phone calls from pseudo-journalists who speculate on the life of a man who is fighting to survive”said a doctor at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan to the Italian agency Ansa.
Short biography of Mino Raiola
Mino Raiola was born in Italy, in the province of Salerno in Nocera Inferiore before leaving for the Netherlands in Harleem with his parents when he was only 1 year old. Mino Raiola will help his father during his childhood in the family restaurant “Napoli” before embarking on law studies. It was in 1987 that he launched into entrepreneurship by first buying a McDonald’s restaurant which he quickly sold. At the age of 20, he founded his brokerage firm, the “Intermezzo”. Mino Raiola will also quickly have a foothold in the world of football by becoming manager of the Haarlem club’s training center and then sports director of the club. Through an agreement with the players’ union, he then becomes the representative of Dutch players abroad… In 1993, he notably intervened as a mediator during the transfer of Dennis Bergkamp from Ajax Amsterdam to Inter.
Mino Raiola, Pogba’s agent, Haaland, Ibrahimovic…
The Italian quickly becomes a key and very influential man in the world of football. If his career really takes off in the Netherlands for several years, he will really start to make himself known when he takes charge of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ajax striker at the time. In 2004, he manages to sign him for Juventus before his transfer to Barcelona where he will get a big commission (more than a million euros). During the summer of 2012, he also participated in the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimović at PSG and Pogba at Juventus. In the summer of 2016, he still managed Paul Pogba’s record transfer from Juventus Turin to Manchester United for 110 million euros. He would have received in the transaction 49 million euros in commission, thanks to an extraordinary conflict of interest since he was both the agent of Juventus, Manchester and the player. Just before his death, the Italian was also the agent of Haaland, a Norwegian football star who was about to sign a record contract this summer.
Here is the list of Mino Raiola’s top ten customers:
- Erling Haaland
- Matthijs de Ligt
- Gianluigi Donnarumma
- Paul Pogba
- Marco Verratti
- Stefan de Vrij
- Ryan Gravenberch
- Hirving Lozano
- Moise Kean
- Donyell Malen
According to the website Forbes, Mino Raiola would have received in 2020 84.7 million dollars thanks to the commissions of the transfers of its customers. The Italian is a known and recognized agent in the world of football where the amount of commissions he demands are sometimes disproportionate.
Sport Business Strategy, Mino Raiola’s agency.
Based in Monaco, Mino Raiola’s agency is called “Sport Business Strategy”. According to the website Forbesthe Italian would have 77 clients in his agency where the value of the contracts signed is 848 million dollars which extend in total over 118 years.