Reports that Mino Raiola - the agent of Erling Haaland, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic - has died have been denied.
The Italian is said to be suffering from an illness and Italian news outlets had reported on Thursday that he had died. However, close friend and assistant Jose Fortes Rodriguez has since told NOS that he is in a "bad position" but has not passed away.
A senior doctor at Milan's San Raffaele hospital has also told Italian news agency ANSA that Raiola was "fighting" for his life. The hospital's intensive care unit chief Alberto Zangrillo said he was "indignant" at the reports in Italy.
And a tweet from Raiola's official Twitter account was posted soon after the reports were denied:
Raiola is known for his influential role in securing big-money moves to European giants for his clients. He is involved in negotiations regarding Haaland’s potential move away from Borussia Dortmund this summer, with Manchester City thought to be frontrunners.
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He is also liaising with Pogba over his impending move away from Manchester United at the end of the season. Raiola helped to orchestrate the Frenchman’s £89m move from Juventus in 2016 - a world record fee at the time.
That summer, he also helped Ibrahimovic secure a move to United on a one-year contract. Eight years earlier, the 'super-agent' played a role in Robinho's high-profile switch to City in 2008, the first signing of owner Sheikh Mansour's reign, before supporting their acquisition of Mario Balotelli in 2010.
Also among his clientele is Matthijs de Ligt, Gianluiggi Donnarumma and Marco Veratti. Raiola, who spent his youth in the Netherlands, began his agency career in the 1980s and first announced himself on the world stage in organising Dennis Bergkamp's 1993 transfer from Ajax to Inter Milan.
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