Italian 'king of the soccer agents'
Mino Raiola died at the weekend aged 54 after a long illness,
his family announced.
The agent, who went from working in his father's pizzera at
Nocera Inferiore near Naples to his first footballers'
representative's job in the Netherlands after a spell in
Haarlem's youth team, was "the greatest of all time", said his
family.
"Mino fought to the last with all his strength, just as he did
to defend players and yet again he made us proud of him without
barely being aware of it.
"Mino wrote an indelible chapter in the history of modern
soccer. We will always miss him".
Raiola was mourned by Italian soccer, with Juventus Chairman
Andrea Agelli tweeting, in English, "don't take the piss in
paradise, they know the truth..." and Inter CEO Beppe Marotta
telling ANSA: "I'm distraught".
AC Milan, which tussled with him over Italy keeper Gigio
Donnarumma's move to PSG, said "we grieve with Minos0' family".
Others voicing their sympathies with the agent's family included
his former clients Paul Pogba, Henrikh
Mkhitaryan, Marco Verratti, Donnarumma, Matthijs de Ligt, Erling
Haaland, Mario Balotelli, Pavel Nedvěd and Zlatan
'Ibra' Ibrahimovic,
Raiola had a delicate operation for lung problems
at Milan's San Raffaele Hospital in January and was recently
readmitted there after his condition worsened.
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