Raiola was the agent of some of the biggest footballing names in the world
Football agent Mino Raiola has died at the age of 54 following a battle with illness, according to reports in Italy.
The super-agent was hospitalised in Milan, Italy back in January where he underwent surgery, however the nature of the illness was never revealed.
In a post on his Twitter account, Raiola provided an update on the surgery which translated to say: “Mino Raiola was subjected to ordinary medical checks which required anesthesia. These are scheduled checks, there has been no emergency intervention.”
Mino Raiola è stato sottoposto a controlli medici ordinari che hanno necessitato di anestesia. Si tratta di controlli programmati, non c’è stato nessun intervento d’urgenza.
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) January 12, 2022
Raiola worked his way up to become one of the most well-known faces in the football world and was involved in some of the most high-profile deals featuring some of the sports biggest stars.
Among his portfolio of talent included the likes of Mario Balotelli, Paul Pogba, Erling Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku and more.
The 54-year-old was born in Nocera Inferiore, Italy in 1967 before moving to Haarlem in the Netherlands with his family just a year later.
At the age of 20, Raiola became the head of HFC Haarlem’s youth team at the age of 20 before then pursuing his career as a football agent.
Having initially worked for a company called Sports Promotions, Raiola was responsible for brokering deals which involved players switching Dutch sides for Italian clubs.
He played a role in helping the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Michel Kreek and Brian Roy to secure moves to Serie A and worked as a football super-agent for the best part of 30 years.
As recently as last year, Raiola was valued at around £62m, according to Forbes, and had over 20 footballing superstars as part of his clientlie.
The agent was expected to be involved in yet another busy summer as well with two of his top clients, Pogba and Haaland, expected to complete moves away from Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund respectively.
