Mino Raiola, one of the world’s leading football agents, is said to be in a “serious condition” in hospital after suffering from illness.
The 54-year-old’s representatives have denied he is dead, however, following a series of erroneous reports from Italy.
Raiola, known for his aggressive negotiating style and head-to-heads with managers, is receiving treatment at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he underwent surgery in January.
Alberto Zangrillo, head of Anaesthesia and the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital was quoted by La Reppublica newspaper as saying: “I am outraged by the phone calls from pseudo journalists who speculate on the life of a man who is fighting.”
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When contacted by i, Raiola’s agency said reports of his death were “fake rumours”, while his close friend and colleague Jose Fortes Rodriguez told Dutch newspaper Nos that he is “in a bad position but he isn’t dead”.
The agent’s official Twitter account later posted: “Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate.”
Born in Naples but raised in the Netherlands, Raiola is the representative of some of the world’s most celebrated players, including Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, Dortmund forward Erling Haaland and the Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Raiola credits his gift of the gab with working as a waiter at his father’s pizza restaurant in Haarlem from the age of 11 and says he never wore a suit because it means people underestimate in contract negotiations.
He the turned to football after buying a McDonald’s and selling it on to a property developer, a move which made him a millionaire at just 19.
After becoming one of the most powerful transfer brokers in Europe and very rich in the process, Raiola told the Financial Times in 2016: “It sounds arrogant. I saw every change in the football world coming before it happened.”
Raiola’s top clients
According to Transfermarkt.com, Raiola has over 70 clients, ranging from world superstars like Pogba, to journeymen like one-time United forward Federico Macheda and ex-pro’s like Maxwell.
Raiola counts Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Verratti, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matthijs De Ligt and former United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, among his clients.
- Erling Haaland – Borussia Dortmund
- Matthijs De Ligt – Juventus
- Gianluigi Donnarumma – PSG
- Paul Pogba – Manchester United
- Jesse Lingard – Manchester United
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic – AC Milan
- Marco Verratti – PSG
- Lorenzo Insigne – Napoli
- Alessio Romagnoli – AC Milan
- Kostas Manolas – Olimpiakos
- Moise Kean – Juventus
- Marcus Thuram – Borussia Monchengladbach
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan – AS Roma
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