Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt wrote a sweet open letter to Mino Raiola following the death of his agent. ‘You were the bad guy against everyone for me, my agent and my best friend.’
The representative took De Ligt from the Ajax youth academy to becoming one of the most expensive defenders in world football.
Raiola orchestrated the transfer to Juventus in 2019 for €85.5m, but the representative died yesterday at the age of 54 after a long illness.
“Dear Mino, I honestly am not ready to write this message and I think I never will be,” wrote the Dutch international on Instagram.
“It’s too early for us players, for your family but especially for you. You had so many dreams to fulfill, so many things left to do.
“I thought you were crazy when you told me about the things you were planning, but you were always right in the end. You knew how the world worked. Nothing is impossible and you showed that to the whole world.
“The moment I met you for the first time I knew you were someone special. Completely different than me but we had one thing in common. We wanted to do our job as good as possible and get everything out of our lives.
“You fought for your players together with your team and that’s why you were so loved by all of them. Because as you always said: they are my sons, my family.
“And now it’s time we have to change roles: you did everything for us and now we have to do everything for the people you loved the most, your family. I promise you we will take care of everything that you loved together as your ‘sons.’
“Mino, I will miss you for everything. Like you said to be the bad guy against everybody for me, to be my agent but especially to be my best friend.
“Someone who I could always ask for help, who was ready to fight for me, but also someone with whom I could talk about life in general. Someone who knew so much about certain things that I am angry with myself I didn’t ask you more.
“I am sure at some point I can ask you more and cuddle you again because I miss you already way too much. I love you Mino.”
Raiola had many famous clients who went through, including Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, former Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba and of course De Ligt.
Born in Italy and raised in the Netherlands when his family moved there during his childhood, Raiola started out as a translator before becoming a talent scout and agent, eventually amassing an empire believed to be worth over €90m.
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