'P***ed off': Football icon 'outraged' as death rumours swirl

Football 'super agent' Mino Raiola has angrily denied claims he has died, taking to social media to confirm he is still alive.

Raiola's clients include Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovich, as well as one of world football's current hottest properties - Erling Braut Haaland.

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Widespread media reports on Thursday claimed the 54-year-old had died - the second time this year that speculation has surrounded his health.

On Thursday night, the Italian took to Twitter to deny the death reports, saying he was angered by the claims.

"Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off," Raiola's official account tweeted.

"Second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate (sic)."

A tweet from the same account in January said Raiola had undergone medical checks requiring anaesthesia, but he had not had surgery.

He reportedly suffers from a lung condition not related to Covid-19.

Raiola's agency had earlier told AFP that reports of his death were "fake news" after Italian media widely claimed he had passed away.

The Gazzetta Dello Sport, Italy's most prestigious sports daily publication, even published an obituary for Raiola, who was born in southern Italy but raised in the Netherlands.

When asked by AFP whether the reports were true, Raiola's agency said: "Mino is not dead, the stories are fake news".

Italian news agency ANSA had earlier quoted Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the intensive care unit at the San Raffaele hospital just outside Milan, as suggesting that Raiola was fighting for his life.

"I am outraged by phone calls from pseudo-journalists who are speculating on the life of a man who is fighting," Zangrillo said.

Mino Raiola a controversial figure in world football

Raiola is one of the sport's most influential agents and most controversial characters.

He has been accused of inflating player salaries to unsustainable levels and has been embroiled in controversy over commissions made on transfers.

In 2016, former Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta said Raiola earned 27 million euros AU($40 million) from the sale of France international Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United that summer.

It was reported in the ‘Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football’ book in 2017 that Raiola had received 49 million euros ($72 million) from three parties in the then-world record 105 million-euro transfer ($155 million).

Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer previously criticised Raiola for stirring up trouble regarding the French superstar's future.

with AFP

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