Mino Raiola: Football agent of Haaland and Pogba dies aged 54

The super agent of Ering Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, Mino Raiola has passed away due to illness.

Ths super agent of football Mino Raiola.

The super agent in football, Mino Raiola, has died due to illness. He was 54 years old. Ering Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba were all clients of Raiola.

"In infinite sorrow we share the passing of the most caring and amazing Football Agent that ever was.Mino fought until the end with the same strength he put on negotiation tables to defend our players. As usual, Mino made us proud and never realized it," a statement from the Raiola family read on Twitter.

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— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) April 30, 2022

 

"Mino's mission of making football a better place for players will continue with the same passion.We thank everybody for the huge amount of support received during these difficult times and ask for respect to the privacy of family and friends in this moment of grief," it added.

The Italian rose to fame brokering high profile deals including those of Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United or that of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Manchester United for free. He was also the agent of Romelu Lukaku fo a period of time after which the Belgian decided to change agents.

Raiola got into football transfers at the age of 25 and one of his earliest deals was that of Dennis Bergkamp to Arsenal. Since then, he also workrd for Czech Republic legend Pavel Nedved, who joined Lazio first and then Juventus -- all with Raiola taking care of the business end of the deal.

He returned to make the headlines in 2016, when Jose Mourinho pushed for the transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United. The deal, a world record deal then, was overseen again by Raiola, as the Red Devils paid 89 million pounds for the France International, making him its most expensive signing.

Raiola has earned an impression of getting in touch with rising young prodigies and he already had Erling Haaland, the next goal machine (aged 21) and Gianluigi Donnarumma, the Golden Glove winner in EURO 2020, as his new clients.

He also completed the deal of Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax as the defender rose to fame with Ajax in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions Legue semifinals.

The sudden demise of the Italian will put a certain question on a couple of high-profile transfers as well. Paul Pogba, for one, may be on his way out of Manchester United on a free transfer, while Erling Haaland, having his release clause active this summer, will also be up for grabs -- both of which look to be stuck with Raiola no more.