Mino Raiola, one of the biggest agents in professional football, passed away on Saturday at the age of 54. Through Twitter the agent’s family confirms the death. The Haarlemmer had been struggling with health problems for some time.
Earlier this week, Raiola was declared dead by the German BILD and La Gazzetta Dello Sport, among others. The Italian newspaper reported that he had to undergo emergency surgery in January and, according to BILD, the Haarlemmer would have died from the effects of a lung disease.
“He’s in a bad position, but he hasn’t died,” said his right-hand man José Fortes Rodriguez. Raiola herself responded on Thursday via Twitter on the death certificate. “Current health status for those wondering: Angry that I’ve been pronounced dead for the second time in four months. I seem capable of resurrection.”
Check out the Raiola family’s tweet below:
world famous
The Italian-born agent moved to Haarlem at the age of one. He worked in the Italian restaurant Napoli that belonged to his parents. In 1987 he started his company Sport Promotion and became agent at Rob Jansen.
One of his first major transfers was that of Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk, who left Ajax for Internazionale in 1993. He also assisted in the transfers of Bryan Roy (to Foggia), Marciano Vink (Genoa) and Michel Kreek (Padova). He then left Rob Jansen and started his own company.
Raiola has looked after the interests of major world stars such as Erling Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba in recent years. He also accompanied several Dutch people. Matthijs de Ligt, Ryan Gravenberch, Owen Wijndal, Brian Brobbey, Donyell Malen and Micky van de Ven are among his management.