FAKE NEWS: Mino Raiola death report is untrue – Nexus News
Circulating reports that football “super agent” Mino Raiola has died are “fake news”, his agency informed Newsmen Yesterday after Italian media widely reported that he had passed away aged 54.
When asked by Newsmen if the reports were true, Raiola’s agency said: “Mino is not dead, the stories are fake news”. The agency would not disclose Raiola’s whereabouts nor whether he was ill.
Raiola, whose clients include World Cup winner Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and one of world football’s hottest new properties, Borussia Dortmund forward Erling Braut Haaland, is one of the sport’s best agents and most controversial characters.
He has been blamed for inflating player salaries to unsustainable levels and has been involved in controversy over commissions made on transfers.
In October 2016 former Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta revealed that Raiola earned 27 million euros ($28.3 million) from selling France international Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United that summer.
Football Leaks reported that Raiola had obtained 49 million euros from three parties in the then world record 105 million-euro transfer.
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According to an updated report on Sky Sports, Raiola is revealed to be ‘critically ill’ in a Milan hospital.
The football super-agent, who has top players like Paul Pogba, Erling Haaland and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his client list, was hospitalized on Thursday amidst rising claims in Italy that he had died.
Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the Intensive Care Unit at San Raffaele Hospital where Raiola is being admitted, informed Italian news agency ANSA: “I am outraged by phone calls from so-called journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting.”
Before this update, Real Madrid among others had sent condolences to the Italian who also manages the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Verratti and Matthijs de Ligt.
While the football world continues to hope for the best for Raiola, his legacies will surely be remembered.
