Mino Raiola went from pizza chef in Holland to engineering the world's biggest deals...
Raiola was considered a 'super-agent' due to the glittering array of talent that he represented and a number will be on the move this summer.
When agent Mino Raiola got his first big break as a translator in the transfer of Dennis Bergkamp to Inter Milan in 1993, he secretly photocopied all the relevant documents so he would know how to do the deal himself next time.
It was an act of ruthlessness that has helped turn the 48-year-old into the agent at the centre of world football’s biggest transfer, adored by clients such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba.
He Insulted, kicked and shouted his way through various lucrative deals that have earned him the nickname ‘Mr Three Hundred Million’.
But who is this tough, rude and uncompromising agent whose company, Maguire Tax & Legal, is a tribute to film character Jerry ‘Show me the Money’ Maguire, and whose ability to divide opinion matches that of Donald Trump.
His success story is a mix of talent and ruthlessness. Born in Italy, he moved to Holland as a baby and was raised in Haarlem at the family pizza restaurant
Raiola’s first big deal was the one that took Pavel Nedved to Lazio after Euro 96. But his life-changing moment came when he invited young Ajax forward Ibrahimovic to a restaurant, and found they were kindred spirits, not giving a damn about what others thought of them.