At first Mino Raiola was surprised by the sound of his phone ringing. The fact that it was 1am was not the surprising part: as a football agent constantly on the move he had long since grown used to being called at all sorts of strange hours. Usually it would be one of his players with some practical issue: a leaky tap, no internet, a mysterious buzzing noise that would invariably turn out to be the fridge.
Some players wanted to talk business. A few – often players living abroad for the first time – just wanted to talk. One night, very late, Raiola answered his phone to Mario Balotelli, who in a meek voice explained that he was alone in his new house and desperate for company. So Raiola went round and together they sat on his sofa in silence, watching Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys on BBC Four until Mario dozed off.
Written by Jonathan Liew
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jan/13/arda-turan-mino-raiola-call-the-super-agent under the title “Call the super-agent! How Arda Turan might try to get his career on track | Jonathan Liew”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
