Pogba-Man Utd, Zlatan-Barca & Raiola’s biggest transfers

FT Desk

• Updated: 1 May 2022 10:29 CDT
• 5 min read

Mino Raiola, agent for the likes of Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland, has passed away at the age of 54. FootballTransfers looks at some of the biggest deals the Italian brokered in his illustrious off-field career.

Erling Haaland looks to be on the cusp of a move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City, and while Raiola won't be around to get that big-money deal over the line, he has been the preeminent super-agent since the turn of the century. Here are five of his most important deals.

Pavel Nedved, Lazio to Juventus, 2001

Pavel Nedved's move from Sparta Prague to Lazio in 1996 was the first move Raiola brokered after leaving the football agency, Sports Promotions. The Czech midfielder had enjoyed an impressive Euro '96 and won the Serie A with Lazio in 2000.

It wasn't a given that Nedved would be the player that replaced the great Zinedine Zidane at Juventus in 2001 when the Frenchman left Turin for Real Madrid, but Raiola helped persuade Juve to part with 75 billion lire (around €38.7 million) for Nedved's services, and two years later he'd won the Ballon d'Or.

Paul Pogba, Juventus to Manchester United, 2016

There were other times when Raiola was making the record Italian champions serious transfer profits as well. Paul Pogba was picked up on a free transfer from Manchester United in 2012, and, playing in a midfield underpinned by Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio, became one of the most potent attacking threats in the game.

When Man Utd bought Pogba back, it set them back some €105m plus bonuses (around €25m of which went to Raiola himself!). Has it been worth it? Pogba has won an EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League and looks set to leave on another free this summer.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Barcelona to AC Milan, 2010

Things didn't work out for Zlatan Ibrahimovic under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona between 2009 and 2011, the former saying of the latter in his autobiography that "when you buy me, you are buying a Ferrari. If you drive a Ferrari, you put premium petrol in the tank, you hit the motorway and you step on the gas. Guardiola filled up with diesel and took a spin in the countryside. He should have bought a Fiat."

That didn't stop Milan from paying nearly €50m to bring him back to Italy, initially on loan, in 2011. All told, Zlatan has cost more than €160m in transfer fees, most of those deals brokered by Raiola. Until Neymar's 2017 move to Paris Saint-Germain, Ibrahimovic had accumulated the most transfer spending in history.

Dennis Bergkamp, Inter Milan to Arsenal, 1995

Dennis Bergkamp was one of a number of players Raiola helped take from the Netherlands to Italy in the 1990s, with Dutch internationals Bryan Roy and Wim Jonk moving to Foggia and Inter respectively. Bergkamp, like Jonk, left Ajax for Inter Milan in 1993, but it was his move from there to Arsenal two years later that made the biggest splash.

Today, most of the best players in the world either play or want to play in the Premier League, but Bergkamp was one of the first with a genuinely world-class level to make the move. Arsenal paid £7.5m (€8.9m). It is easy to forget that he beat Arsene Wenger to London by a year, but he was still a cornerstone of his Invincibles.

Mario Balotelli, Inter Milan to Man City

Another player who has racked up astronomical transfer fees in his career is Mario Balotelli. The Italy international, now of Adana Demirspor, cost Man City €29.5m to sign from Inter Milan back in 2010. Balotelli assisted the famous Sergio Agueroooooo title-winning goal in 2012, but off-field problems have held him up since. That hasn't stopped him racking up nearly €70m in fees - a percentage of which went to Raiola as his agent.