RIP Mino Raiola: King of the Super-agents

The Italian, who has sadly passed away at the age of 54, will forever be remembered as one of football’s most controversial and colourful characters.

Mino Raiola had an accountancy firm called Maguire Tax & Legal, its name inspired by an Oscar-winning movie starring Tom Cruise.

Many of his adversaries within the game were offended by the insinuation he was any way similar to Jerry Maguire, the fictional sports agent who comes to champion love (or ‘kwan’) over greed.

However, his clients would always tell you the comparison was just; that he formed a special bond with each and every one of them.

Such polarised opinions perfectly illustrated the way in which Raiola divided the football world.

He will forever be remembered as one of its most controversial yet compelling characters, seemingly loved and loathed in equal measures, a self-styled super-agent doing right by clients, but wrong by clubs.

The 54-year-old was born in Agri, Italy, but his parents emigrated to Netherlands when he was still an infant, settling in Haarlem.

It was in this Dutch municipality that Raiola was raised before taking the first steps to becoming arguably the ‘king of super-agents’.

Raiola was a moderately talented player in his youth and he played for his local club before quitting the game at just 18. 

However, while he started studying law, he had not lost his passion for football, electing to take charge of the Haarlem youth team.

Source: Goal