Mino Raiola passed away. The 54-year-old Italian sports agent was in a hospital in Milan with serious health conditions due to lung disease, and through his Twitter account, his family announced his departure.
"It is with infinite sorrow that we announce the death of Mino, the most extraordinary agent ever. Mino fought until the last moment with all his strength as he did to defend soccer players. He has written an indelible chapter in the history of modern soccer. He will always be missed and his project to make the world of soccer a better place for players will be carried forward with the same passion”, his family wrote.
Born in 1967 in Nocera Inferiore, in the Campania region (south), he was one of the most important sports agents in the world. He was awarded in 2016 and 2020 as best agent of the year and was described as "King of the Football Market" for his important operations throughout his long career.
Top players represented by Mino Raiola
The best players of modern soccer that Mino Raiola represented throughout his career were Mario Balotelli, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Konstantinos Manolas, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Moise Kean, Alphonse Areola, Hirving Lozano, Stefan de Vrij, Marco Verratti, Paul Pogba, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matthijs de Ligt, and Erling Haaland.
As reported by Forbes in 2020, Mino Raiola was the architect of a long list of contracts valued at a total of 721 million euros. In the same period, the agent earned 72 million euros (USD 85 million) in commissions.
Haaland was currently his highest-valued player on the market, according to Transfermarkt, the Norwegian is worth 150 million euros. The striker is likely to change club next transfer window, but Raiola's signature will not be on the contract.
Top transfers mediated by Mino Raiola
His first major signing was to arrange Dennis Bergkamp's transfer from Ajax to Inter in 1993. Throughout his long career, Raiola arranged, for example, the transfer of Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United for 105 million euros (a record for Italian soccer). Another of its major contracts was the transfer of Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax to Juventus for €75 million.
Raiola was also part of the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter to Barcelona in exchange for €46 million. One of Raiola’s earliest transfer dealings was also one of his finest as Czech genius Pavel Nedved moved to Juventus from Lazio for €41 million.