Speculations have been circulating about the relationship between Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho since the January transfer window.
The 24-year-old midfielder re-joined Manchester United for £89 million in 2016 but could be considering another move away from the club. Mino Raiola has been ‘calling top clubs’ to discuss a move for Pogba
Who is Mino Raiola ?
Born in Nocera Inferiore in Salerno, Nales, Raiola and his family moved to Haarlem in Holland when he was just one. They opened a pizzeria called Napoli and this soon expanded to 11 restaurants but at the age of 19 he striked out on his own.
He became a millionaire before he turned 20 after buying and selling a local McDonalds to a property developer. Raiola celebrated his 50th birthday last year and he currently resides in Monaco.
How did he get into football?
Raiola briefly played for FC Haarlem but after dropping out of a law degree, he became the technical director of the club. His career took another twist at 25 when he joined Sport-Promotion.They handled deals for footballers including Arsenal star Dennis Bergkamp.
How did he get noticed as an agent?
IN 1996, he oversaw a move for Pavel Nedved. The Czech player moved from Sparta Prague to Lazio for £12million. Then in 2001, Nedved was on the move again when he transferred to Juventus in a £25million deal.
Paul Pogba performs tribal dance in sea as Manchester United star continues post-World Cup holiday
Who else does he represent?
Two years after Nedved moved to Juventus, Raiola landed one of his biggest clients – Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Depsite Ibra not initially warming to Raiola, he has stayed with the Italian agent ever since.
In 2008, he was involved in two disciplinary hearings instigated by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) for transfer irregularities.
In August 2016, after closing the world record transfer of Paul Pogba to Manchester United, Raiola made a reported €25 million from Pogba’s €105 million transfer; he bought the former Miami home of one of America’s most famous mob bosses, Al Capone, for €9 million.
Raiola has over 20 players playing in the European leagues on his books. He was involved in the swap deal which saw Mikhitaryan move from United to Arsenal during the January transfer window and Alexis Sanchez move north to the Red Devils.
Other names on Raiola’s books include Mario Balotelli and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
A day before Manchester United launch their Premier League season and Jose Mourinho’s preparations are being muddied by agent Mino Raiola’s shameless attempts to extract Paul Pogba out of Manchester United and into the grasp of Barcelona.
Raiola, describes himself as an ‘extremist’ and this is extreme behaviour, designed to rattle, designed to stun.
The question of sincerity is a good one. Does Pogba really want to leave Old Trafford behind or is this a shameless ploy to earn a new contract and parity with Alexis Sanchez’s £450,000-per-week deal?
After all, Raiola has previously said of Pogba’s Manchester United existence: ‘Pogba could have gone to all the top clubs. But Real Madrid had just won the Champions League. He’d have been a trophy player there.
‘Barcelona — their three trophies are Messi, Neymar and Suarez. What you see is the final result of years of sculpting. I spent two years working on Manchester United’s deal with Paul.’
Barcelona have their enduring trophies in Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, while new toys have arrived in Philippe Coutinho and Malcom in the past six months.
I1t begs the question, therefore, as to whether Barcelona can provide the commercial individual superstar status for Pogba that he clearly desires.
Mourinho, of course, is not the first man to be pushed to his wits end by Pogba and Raiola. We should remember the conversation between Sir Alex Ferguson and the pair when Pogba was a teenager on the brink of leaving Manchester United for Juventus in his late teens.