Mino Raiola ‘fighting to survive’ amid false reports of his death
Dr Alberto Zangrillo confirmed to the news agency Ansa that Raiola had not died, contrary to reports in Italy and across Europe
The high-profile football agent Mino Raiola is “fighting to survive” in a Milan hospital but has tweeted to deny reports about his death.
Raiola — one of football’s most powerful and prominent intermediaries, having represented Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Erling Haaland — is being treated at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy.
Dr Alberto Zangrillo confirmed to the news agency Ansa that Raiola had not died, contrary to reports in Italy and across Europe, stating: “I’m outraged by the phone calls from pseudo-journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting to survive.”
José Fortes Rodríguez, a close associate of Raiola, told the Dutch media outlet NOS: “He is in a bad position, but he hasn’t died.”
Raiola, the Italy-born Dutch national who is considered among the “super agents” of world football, alongside Jorge Mendes and Jonathan Barnett, was hospitalised and required a procedure in January. Raiola is understood to have been living with a serious illness since then, but a tweet from his account at the time said he had not required emergency surgery and was undergoing medical checks.
Media outlets in Italy and across Europe had reported Raiola’s death, but a statement from his Twitter account on Thursday afternoon read: “Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate [sic].”
The 54-year-old has become a renowned figure in world football after public fallouts with managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Raiola was believed to have earned about £20 million in the world-record £89 million transfer of Pogba from Juventus to United in 2016.
He has worked with some of football’s most high-profile players, including Romelu Lukaku, Mario Balotelli, Matthijs de Ligt, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Verratti and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Raiola is multilingual and worked his way up from humble beginnings, having worked in a pizza restaurant before brokering a string of the biggest transfers in world football.
He has been expected to have a busy summer of transfer business, with Pogba’s contract at Old Trafford expiring and Haaland set to move from Borussia Dortmund to City.
