Popular football agent Mino Raiola is dead. The renowned football agent who represents a host of famous footballers passed away after an illness.
Raiola's death had initially been announced on Thursday, but his representatives denied the news, although they admitted he was in critical condition.
However, two days after his representatives denied the news, Raiola's family has now confirmed his death.
Raiola was 54 at the time of his death. According to reports, he has been sick since January and went through the knife. However, the nature of the sickness was not revealed.
He was supposed to begin his rehabilitation at home, even though the illness was serious. However, he was unable to beat the sickness and has now been pronounced dead.
Raiola was one of the most popular agents not just in football but in sports history. He was among the richest football agents last year, with Forbes ranking him as the fourth most powerful agent in Sports.
His clients loved him but he was a coach's nightmare
Raiola represented several high-profile players before his death. Superstars like Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mario Balotelli, and Erling Haaland.
Raiola represented his clients well, ensuring he got the best deals for them. However, he was not best friends with many coaches.
In his work to get the best for his clients, he annoyed some managers, with some saying they would never deal with him again. Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was one of the coaches to publicly criticise Raiola for his conduct in negotiations.
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The British football legend was angered with the way Raiola acted in the deal that took Pogba away from United to Juventus in 2013.
"There are one or two football agents I simply do not like, and Mino Raiola, Paul Pogba's agent, is one of them," Ferguson said in his book, as per Talk Sport.
"I distrusted him from the moment I met him. He became Zlatan Ibrahimovic's agent while he was playing for Ajax, and eventually, he would end up representing Pogba, who was only 18 years old at the time.
"We had Paul under a three-year contract, and it had a one-year renewal option which we were eager to sign. But Raiola suddenly appeared on the scene, and our first meeting was a fiasco.
"He and I were like oil and water. From then on, our goose was cooked because Raiola had been able to ingratiate himself with Paul and his family, and the player signed with Juventus," he added.
According to Forbes, as of 2020, Raiola's clientele's contract was worth £681m, and he had earned £67m from commissions.