Mino Raiola’s rocky relationship with Manchester United goes back years, from Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign through to the current era with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Although both sides have profited along the way, it’s been far from plain sailing, with much bad blood still lingering between the two parties.
Football’s most notorious super-agent is not averse to ruffling a few feathers, and it’s at United that he has perhaps done that the most. From Fergie to now, there are countless times when the relationship has reached breaking point.
It is now at a crucial juncture though, with United not willing to deal with him – but Raiola holding a potential key to the club’s future.
Erling Haaland is arguably – and in all honestly, probably – world football’s hottest property, with many clubs desperate to secure his signature this summer in a big-money move from Borussia Dortmund.
United are, openly, one of them – but there is one rather large stumbling block in that he is on the books of Raiola. To get the player, you’ll have to ‘dance with the devil’.
Not my words, but those of Rio Ferdinand, who recently opened up on the difficult situation, urging his old club to put the past to one side in order to recruit a player that could feasibly take them back to the top of the Premier League.
‘They have got to go out and give everything they have got to get Haaland,’ Ferdinand said on his Vibe with Five YouTube show.
‘I don’t like to talk about players that come from other teams but this guy, we [United] can’t afford to let this guy go anywhere else. His only destination is England. Continue reading