Football 'super agent' Mino Raiola dies after battle with illness

MILAN: Mino Raiola, one of football's most powerful agents whose high-profile clients included Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland, has died at the age of 54, his family announced on Saturday (Apr 30).

"In infinite sorrow we share the passing of the most caring and amazing Football Agent that ever was," the Italian's family said in a message on Twitter.

"Mino fought to the end with the same strength he put on negotiation tables to defend our players. As usual, Mino made us proud and never realised it."

Raiola's family did not say what illness he had been suffering from, but he had been at Milan's San Raffaele hospital where he had previously survived scares.

His death comes two days after Italian media reported that he had died, only for his agency, the head of San Raffaele's intensive care department and eventually the man himself to deny the reports.

Raiola built up a glittering portfolio of players, which also included AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, over a long career as both one of the sport's most influential agents and most controversial characters.

Public reaction was relatively muted from his stable, although late on Saturday, Borussia Dortmund striker Haaland, one of football's hottest talents, posted a picture of himself with Raiola on Twitter with the short message: "The best".

Raiola attracted criticism due to the enormous sums he earned in commissions from his deals and the huge inflation in player salaries - which have risen to previously unimaginable levels since the 1990s - that he helped to fuel.

Raiola was born in Nocera Inferiore in southern Italy, but in 1968, still only a one-year-old, he was taken with his family to Haarlem in the Netherlands.

He began his working life at his family's pizzeria in the