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Mino Raiola’s first job was in his father’s pizza restaurant in the Dutch city of Haarlem. They had emigrated from southern Italy to the Netherlands when he was 11, and for years he slaved away, washing the floor and waiting tables. As he got older, his father realized he had an aptitude for business and his son was put in charge of the books and negotiating contracts to import the best mozzarella and tomatoes. The offices of the Dutch football federation were nearby and an Italian agent used to pop in.
That was first contact Raiola, who died on Saturday at the age of 54, had with football, a world he would transform. For many, he symbolized much that was wrong with the modern game. He was somebody who knew the cost of everything and value of nothing, who spun players from club to club to improve their wages while taking a huge cut for himself without taking much time to think about what was good for football. The obsession his clients, notably Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimović, seemed to have with the Ballon d’Or spoke of a focus on individualism that cut against the collective spirit on which the most successful teams and the games itself are based.
