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. He began his career as an agent with the sports agent company Sports Promotions, where he assisted in the transfer of players such as Marciano Vink and Wim Jonk.

His first major signing was to arrange Dennis Bergkamp‘s transfer from Ajax to Inter in 1993 in exchange for 7,1 million euros. Furthermore, some of the players that Raiola represented were Mario Balotelli, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Matthijs de Ligt, Paul Pogba, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Erling Haaland, who was currently his highest-valued player on the market (valued at 150 million euros, according to Transfermarkt).

Mino Raiola’s net worth

Raiola became a millionaire before he turned 20 after buying and selling a local McDonald’s to a property developer. However, referring to the 54-year-old Italian as a sports agent, according to Forbes, his fortune wasUS$ 85 million and he was among the five richest agents in the world.

An estimated 850 million dollars were generated from all the player transfers in which he participated. However, the figure could be higher as many times the deals have clauses that are not communicated to the media. Raiola used to charge a commission for each transfer of his represented players close to 10%.

Raiola made his money count. He lived in Monaco but owned properties in the world’s major cities. One of them is located in Miami and is the ex-mansion of the mobster Al Capone. For the property, he paid US$ 10 million.

“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, theagent earned 72 millioneuros (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.

Only a half hour prior news “broke” that Raiola had died of an “illness”, and it did not take long for retweets, obituaries, SEO articles, and breaking news pieces from such prestigious news agencies such as El Pais, Dario Ole, Gazzetta dello Sport, 90Min and others to confirm the Italian’s supposed death. Even Real Madrid put out a tweet in memorandum to Mino Raiola.

It was yet another black eye for journalism as many reporters rush to have an exclusive story without checking any facts. In this case Mino Raiola was the latest famous person killed by Twitter.

Social media reacts to Mino Raiola back from the dead

The Italian super-agent has the creme of the creme of clients in the Soccer community, some of his list of clients has and have included: Erling Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Mario Balotelli, Pavel Nedvěd, Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi, Hirving Lozano, Gianluigi Donnarumma, among others.

Raiola tweeted minutes after his death had circulated the globe: “Current health status for the ones wondering: pi+*ed off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to resuscitate.”

Raiola is a speaker of seven languages: Italian, English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Dutch and according to Forbes is worth in the range of $84 million.

According to a report from Spanish outlet Deportes Cuatro, Haaland’s agent Mino Raiola and Barcelona president Joan Laporta have agreed that Barca will sign the striker if they can afford him at the end of the season.

But Haaland, 21, is one of the most coveted players on Earth at the moment and his departure from Dortmund won’t be cheap. Meanwhile, Barcelona are still battling with a financial crisis that threatens their hopes of making any expensive signing. However, the report explains why this move could be possible.

Report: Mino Raiola agreeswithLaporta thatHaaland will join Barcelona if they can afford him

Raiola and Laporta have reportedly met last month inTurin and shortly after that meetingthey made a pact about Haaland’s future. If Barcelona raisethe funds to afford the move, the Norwegian will make the switch to Camp Nou, according to Deportes Cuatro.

Apparently, Raiola would give priority to Laporta because of their great relationship, which explains why this transfer rumor is still alive despite Barcelona’s financial woes. But that wouldn’t be the only reason.

Haaland is reportedly not interested in joining Real Madrid if Kylian Mbappe is also on his way there, which is why the possibility of being the main star at Camp Nou could be more appealing for the striker.

This is how Barcelona expect to attract Erling Haaland

Meanwhile, even though Barcelona are going through a financial and identity crisis, Joan Laporta is hopeful that the club will get back on track fast and sees Haaland as the necessary addition to take Barca back where it belongs.

The Cules have already begun the mission of returning to prominence by appointing Xavi Hernandez and making an effort to land Spanish sensation Ferran Torres from Manchester City. Thatis just the beginning for Laporta, who apparently expectsHaaland to becomethe face Barcelona for the next decade, which will hopefully be one to remember.

However, it won’t be easy as Barcelona are not only in severe debt but theymust also comply with La Liga‘s salary cap. From now on, they’ll have nearly six months to free up space, get rid of expensive contracts, sell players, and raise funds to keep the Haaland dream alive.