There were conflicting reports about the death of Mino Raiola, the agent of the most prominent football stars in the world, at the age of 54, Thursday. While media reports confirmed his death, a source close to him denied the matter, stressing that the news was absolutely not true.
Raiola is considered one of the very important figures in some of the upcoming deals during the “summer Mercato”, after he was finalizing the transfer of Norwegian Halland to Manchester City, and he is also negotiating the departure of Frenchman Paul Pogba from Manchester United after his contract expires on June 30.
Raiola is an agent for a number of football stars such as the Swedish Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was the reason for his fame as an agent, Erling Haaland, Paul Pogba, Italy goalkeeper Donnarumma and Dutch defender De Ligt.
Raiola was born in southern Italy in the province of Salerno, but his family moved to the Netherlands as a child, and they opened a pizzeria in Haarlem. Raiola studied law, took up business, learned languages and also loved football and wanted to be a player agent.
According to GOAL, Raiola is still alive. The website quoted Raiola’s close friend, Jose Fortes Rodriguez, as telling the Dutch newspaper, “De Telegraaf,” that “Raiola is not dead, these reports are meaningless.”
Alberto Zangrillo, the doctor supervising Raiola’s treatment, posted a tweet through his official account on the social networking site “Twitter” to deny the news, saying: “I am angry at the repeated calls by journalists about the death of a man fighting for his life.”
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