Renowned football agent Mino Raiola posted on Twitter on Thursday that he was angry amid a flurry of reports that claimed he had died.
“Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off second time in four months they kill me. Seem also able to resuscitate,” Raiola tweeted following reports across social media that he had died.
Raiola, 54, was admitted to Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital in January, and his business partner, Jose Fortes Rodrigues, told ESPN NL he remains in serious condition.
Rodrigues said of the rumours: “It’s not true. He is not dead, but he is fighting for his life.”
Doctor Alberto Zangrillo, who is treating Raiola, said he was furious at the false rumours.
“I’m indignant at the phone calls by pseudo journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting [for his life],” Zangrillo told Italian news agency ANSA.
Raiola represents some of the game’s biggest players, including Erling Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba. Matthijs de Ligt, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Jesse Lingard, Blaise Matuidi, Hirving Lozano and Mario Balotelli are also among his client list.
Born in Italy in 1967, Raiola moved a year later to the Netherlands, where he represented HFC Haarlem as a player at youth level. Raiola has remained in football despite not making it as a professional player; as an agent, he began his career with Sports Promotions.
He left to start his own business and his first major independent transfer was Pavel Nedved’s move from Sparta Prague to Lazio in 1996.
In 2016, he brokered the then-world-record transfer of Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United for £89 million.