Mino Raiola has this summer made Manchester United’s transfer business his own. Already having Sergio Romero at the club, Raiola oversaw deals for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The biggest deal of all was of course the return of Paul Pogba to Manchester United, after Raiola assisted Pogba’s exit in the first place. At the time, Raiola received a great deal of criticism, with it being suggested the agent was behind Pogba leaving in the first place.
That was probably unfair, Pogba is very strong minded, and Raiola will have been working on his client’s wishes. The agent then spent the following four years talking up Pogba’s value.
Every transfer window there would be talk of record fees for a move ‘in the future’. Pogba repeatedly renewed with Juventus, and Raiola had a clause that he’d receive a percentage of any future transfer fee.
The talking up in the media continued, and fortunately Pogba’s football was cashing the cheques Raiola’s mouth was writing. The partnership between player and agent hugely helped the perceived value of Pogba skyrocket, to the point it became pretty clear that when he moved it would be for around €100m.
That’s what happened, and whilst the figures are astonishing, Raiola has a very good argument that he (and the player, as several reports in Italy stated) deserved the percentage as previously agreed.
So after the announcement, Raiola jetted off to Ibiza, as one does. You see, Raiola doesn’t care one bit what anyone thinks about him, and that’s part of the reason he’s such an interesting figure.
Italy’s Calciomercato say he was there on Tuesday evening, and have pictures to back it up. Raiola also met up with AC Milan’s Adriano Galliani. Business and pleasure.
A busy summer nearly over, Raiola now has to find someone to take Mario Balotelli.
