Mino Raiola has passed away at the age of 54, his family and real estate agency have officially confirmed. The striking agent had been struggling with health problems for some time and was even recently pronounced dead by Italian media, which led to anger among the Dutch-Italian. It was the second time that the media in Italy claimed that Raiola had died.
Raiola ended up in the hospital in mid-January. The agent was in preparation for a meeting with the Borussia Dortmund management about the future of Erling Braut Haaland. Raiola is also agent for players such as Paul Pogba, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marco Verratti. The renowned advocate also had many Dutch people under his care, including Matthijs de Ligt, Ryan Gravenberch, Stefan de Vrij, Donyell Malen, Denzel Dumfries, Myron Boadu, Justin Kluivert, Owen Wijndal and Calvin Stengs.
At the end of April, among other things, La Gazzetta dello Sport with the news that Raiola has died. Those reports were soon contradicted by José Fortes Rodriguez, Raiola’s right-hand man. “Current health situation for those interested: pissed off, for the second time in four months I am pronounced dead. Resuscitation seems possible,” Raiola subsequently read on Raiola’s Twitter account. However, it was confirmed that the agent is fighting for his life. What Raiola ultimately died from is not disclosed. In January he was in intensive care. Milan because of a lung disease.
Raiola saw the light of day in Salerno, Italy, but left for Haarlem a year later with his parents. His father opened a successful pizzeria, where Raiola worked in addition to studying law. At the age of nineteen Raiola started working at Sport Promotion, the company of well-known Dutch agent Rob Jansen. He was involved in some big transfers, including Dennis Bergkamp’s to Internazionale, but decided to start his own business a year later. After his first major transfer – where he brought the then unknown Pavel Nedved to Lazio after an impressive European Championship in 1996 – Raiola quickly became a renowned name in football and built up an impressive player base.
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) Apr 30, 2022
The advocate was responsible for several high-profile transfers. Zlatan Ibrahimovic transferred under his care in 2009 for sixty million euros from Internazionale to Barcelona. Raiola was also partly responsible for the much-discussed return of Paul Pogba to Manchester United in 2016 for no less than 130 million euros. Feyenoord trainer Arne Slot also has his interests represented by the Italian with Dutch roots. The wealth that he had built up with his company was estimated by Quote in 2021 at around two hundred million euros. Raiola just turned 54.