Mino Raiola opens up on his own football career & his earliest transfer dealings

Mino Raiola is world famous in football as an agent, but the man known for representing some of the biggest and best players on the planet has now lifted the lid on his own playing career.

Raiola, who was born in Italy but emigrated to the Netherlands with his family as an infant, had dreams about playing for Real Madrid when he was trying to make a name for himself as a creative midfielder in the youth ranks at local club FC Haarlem.

“I was wearing the number 10 in midfield,” he told Sport1.

“But I was too much in love with the ball. I always say: ‘I could have gone to Real Madrid, but one small detail was missing: They didn't want me’ [laughs].”

Growing up, Raiola worked in his family’s pizza restaurant, taking on more and more responsibility as he got older and helping his father with the administrative side of the business. It was through the restaurant that he met all manner of people, including encounters with the president of FC Haarlem – “I knew him because I played there when I was young.”

Raiola admitted that he didn’t shy away from giving the club chief his opinions whenever he came into the restaurant, which was how he got his break in football business, initially as a sporting director, paving the way to become the hugely influential agent he is today.

“He always came to us and, as a young guy who was cheeky and had a big mouth, I gave him my opinion: ‘What sh*t are you doing there? How did you get this player? Why this? How come?’”, he explained.

“Sometimes I organised the catering for the VIP area and complained again after a disappointing game. Then the president said to me: ‘You know what, you know everything better, just do it!’ He certainly did not expect my answer.

“I immediately said, ‘When should I start?’ And so it began. I started out as a sporting director when I was 19 or 20, and even then I had such good contracts with the players that it was more of a disadvantage for the club [laughs]. At some point I started my own business and set up as a consultant. The players all wanted to see me.”

Raiola has been in the game of transfers a long time and his first big deal was almost 30 years ago, brokering a transfer to Serie A for Bryan Roy of Ajax’s 1992 UEFA Cup-winning team.

“I brought Bryan Roy to Foggia from Amsterdam in 1992. Back then, Serie A was like the Premier League today,” Raiola explained. “Everyone wanted to go to Italy. Then I took Marciano Vink to Genoa and Wim Jonk and Dennis Bergkamp to Inter.”

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