Famous football agent, Mino Raiola dies at 54 after battle with lung disease

High-profile football agent, Mino Raiola, has died at the age of 54 following a battle with lung disease.

 

Raiol respresented several players including Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Verratti, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matthijs de Ligt, Erling Haaland, and Harry Fletcher. 

 

 

Raiola was hospitalised in Milan back in January and underwent very delicate surgery but the nature of the illness was not revealed at the time. 

 

German newspaper BILD said he was in intensive care due to a lung disease, although his spokesperson downplayed the visit, saying: ‘Mino Raiola is undergoing the usual medical examinations that require anesthesia. Everything was planned and there were no emergency surgeries.’

 

 

Raiola was born in Nocera Inferiore, Italy in 1967 and emigrated with his family to Haarlem in the Netherlands the following year.

 

Forbes estimated last year that Raiola’s personal wealth was in the region of £62m. 

 

It was reported that Raiola earned as much as £20million from the world record £89m sale of Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United in 2016. 

 

During the early 1990s, Raiola worked for the Sports Promotions, a company in Holland, and assisted with the transfers of several high-profile Dutch players, including Dennis Bergkamp, to Italian clubs.

 

He would go on to represent more than 20 of the game’s top stars across European football and was last year said to be worth around £62million, having reportedly received a £41m cut when Pogba rejoined Manchester United in 2016.

 

 

Since then, Raiola has overseen numerous Ibrahimovic transfers around Europe, as well as Balotelli’s move from Inter Milan to Man City in 2010 and his subsequent switch to AC Milan.

 

One of Raiola’s biggest clients, Norway striker Haaland, is set to join Premier League champions Manchester City at the end of the season in a deal worth more than £500,000-a-week.