Let's not buy Raiola players again - ever

crackers0seven

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Stay away from this toxic cnut. Its not even like his players have set the world alight at utd present or past. Fergie was right about him, enough players and agents to avoid him.
 

El Zoido

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Raiola has always been a snake, feck him. He’s more than happy to use Man Utd in order to drive up the price of his clients, all while advising them not to join the club. And yes I agree that after Pogba is gone we should refuse to deal with him. Whether you agree with his words or not, we should not be accepting of this.
 

JPRouve

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If you see in the Pogba thread, I just made a comment where I stated that ditching Raiola clients after Pogba leaves or retires is what I would want to see as a fan, but don't expect at all.

I'm not really wrong in theory when all my point boils down to is that his point was wrong in saying that Raiola is too powerful not to deal with. At this point I don't think I'll understand your view or counter-point to that, and I suspect I won't if we continue either.
I don't see what is difficult to understand. He is wrong because Raiola only has a handful of interesting players and most of them aren't for sale. And your argument was wrong because the few that are/were available have been targetted by the clubs that you mentioned. I hope that I made my point clearer.

Edit: Just an example this summer, Areola signed for Madrid while the press was claiming that Perez won't deal with Raiola regarding Pogba's transfer, that's bs.
 

ShinjiNinja26

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I hope the club steer well clear of any of this vile cnuts clients in the future, yes he has some quality young players to offer but certainly not worth the hassle. Plenty of other clubs are successful without having any of his clients on their books.
 

Ødegaard

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I don't see what is difficult to understand. He is wrong because Raiola only has a handful of interesting players and most of them aren't for sale. And your argument was wrong because the few that are/were available have been targetted by the clubs that you mentioned. I hope that I made my point clearer.
Your point is clear, but it's wrong.
You're saying that I'm wrong because my argument is wrong, but my argument wasn't anything but an example based on memory, my point, made without any significant argument, was that his was wrong.

Whenever I mention that something is based on my memory I've usually bene clear about my memory being terrible, so and memories as arguments are always anectodal/just throwaway due to misremembering and the possibility of wrong reporting in the first place. If we're going by that view then for all we know the reports you've read and based your views on can be just as wrong. Even then I accepted your correction on my memory, but you are somehow still trying to argue that it changes my disagreement about Raiola not being near that powerful? That's silly and just being argumentative for the sake of it.
 

NewGlory

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I would fecking waste a potential 100 million fee on Pogba right now. We should ask Pogba to drop him right now. If he doesn’t, we don’t sell him till fecking 2021. Not play him to boot.
Right, because Woodward would ever do anything like that :) And for what - for the sake of honor? :D That man will sell his own mother for 100 mil. And so will his owners Glazers. They have zero loyalties other than to money.
 

JPRouve

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Your point is clear, but it's wrong.
You're saying that I'm wrong because my argument is wrong, but my argument wasn't anything but an example based on memory, my point, made without any significant argument, was that his was wrong.

Whenever I mention that something is based on my memory I've usually bene clear about my memory being terrible, so and memories as arguments are always anectodal/just throwaway due to misremembering and the possibility of wrong reporting in the first place. If we're going by that view then for all we know the reports you've read and based your views on can be just as wrong. Even then I accepted your correction on my memory, but you are somehow still trying to argue that it changes my disagreement about Raiola not being near that powerful? That's silly and just being argumentative for the sake of it.
I see, when I say that you are wrong I'm talking about clubs actively boycotting Raiola, I wasn't talking about your disagreement with the other poster. I should have been more explicit, my apologies. :)
 

Ødegaard

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I see, when I say that you are wrong I'm talking about clubs actively boycotting Raiola, I wasn't talking about your disagreement with the other poster. I should have been more explicit, my apologies. :)
I knew that, and mentioned that you were correct in pointing that out. I think it just got overlooked. :)
 

NewGlory

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If my memory is correct, Barcelona haven't gone for a Raiola player since Zlatan. So that would be one of the biggest.
If media reports are correct, Barcelona was very much interested in signing De Ligt as recently as last summer, and De Ligt is a Riola client. We ourselves tried to sign both De Ligt, as well as Haaland. That is – going for one Riola client in each of the recent transfer windows.

I am all for avoiding Raiola, but he is not an insignificant agent. Appreciate you sharing the names of the clubs who are also avoiding him. I hope United follows their example.
 

Ødegaard

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If media reports are correct, Barcelona was very much interested in signing De Ligt as recently as last summer, and De Ligt is a Riola client. We ourselves tried to sign both De Ligt, as well as Haaland. That is – going for one Riola client in each of the recent transfer windows.

I am all for avoiding Raiola, but he is not an insignificant agent. Appreciate you sharing the names of the clubs who are also avoiding him. I hope United follows their example.
My memory on that part has already been corrected. But you're absolutely right, they went for Verratti and De Ligt.

I never said he was insignificant, but personally, as a fan, I would prefer if the club avoided him. I realize it's not going to happen for loads of reasons, but the club has the option. :p
 

JPRouve

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I knew that, and mentioned that you were correct in pointing that out. I think it just got overlooked. :)
My point is that you are right but the argument that you used was incorrect. I will have the last word.
:lol:
 

NewGlory

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My memory on that part has already been corrected. But you're absolutely right, they went for Verratti and De Ligt.

I never said he was insignificant, but personally, as a fan, I would prefer if the club avoided him. I realize it's not going to happen for loads of reasons, but the club has the option. :p
Yeap, couldn't agree more with you there.
 

mu4c_20le

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I thought agents don't have a say on where their clients go, and only do as their client instructs??
 

Antisocial

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Given our constant difficulties in the transfer market, and our limited finances in a market that is always inflating, then our academy becomes more important to our future than ever - for me, we really need to have learned from the Pogba situation to find a way to stop Raiola or similar agents getting their claws into our academy graduates at a young age and taking them to someone like Juventus because they are willing to promise him a huge cut of the transfer fee they receive for when the player leaves a couple of years later.

I’m not sure what can be done about this as I won’t pretend to know the rules for academy players and their contracts, but this is what really concerns me. Avoiding his clients in general should be possible - plenty of clubs do it - but we can’t have him raiding our academy and cherry-picking our brightest prospects at a time when we are so weak.

For once I hope we’ve learned a lesson from that.
 

Mainoldo

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It has nothing to do with just the agent fees. This guy has been pushing for Pogba to leave since Pogba's second season. It's not about dealing with top agents, but dealing with personalities. We knew what Raiola was before Pogba came as we had dealt with Pogba leaving before. Yet we chose to move forward with it despite the signs because we wanted that quick fix instead of observing the whole situation. That's the difference between us then and now. We used to look at alot of things rather than just on pitch performance to determine the fit of a player to our culture and team.
Bull crap.. we got a world class player and filled him with average players ran by as we already know. If we was successful Raiola's impact on the club would have been minimal. Yes he might have wanted to leave down the line but so what.. so did Ronaldo, RVN and De Dea and non of them was represented by Raiola. I'm fed up of us fans chatting rubbish, to fit some fake narrative.

If we was successful half of this would not be happening.
 

RedRonaldo

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To be fair, if I am a very good player or player with huge potential, I may be tempted to appoint Raiola as my agent to serve my best interest too. Footballer career is relatively short (around 15 years in average), have to make the most out of it.
 

Focusmate

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Raiola is a money grabbing grease ball who stands out even amongst all the others in that field.
He works for his players though so when he slags United he is simply being a mouthpiece for his client, in this case Pogba.Whatever he says is effectively what Pogba wants to say but doesnt want to actually say the words.
 

Red71

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I don’t understand how him coming out with all that tripe is helpful to a player he represents when he is still at the club. It does nothing for the lad’s relationship with the fans and ends up p!$$ing off his bosses at United too.

Also, who the feck is this cnut to talk about United like this!!?? We have no idea whether he is right or wrong in what he’s saying (and I can see from a number of comments that there are fans who think he is right) but regardless, that absolute lack of respect for one of the giants of the game is mind boggling. I’m obviously not personally involved but I’m still fuming about it. Our club deserves better than that but at the same time, there’s nothing to be had in engaging in a war of words with the tool. It would be nice to see ex-players/legends go in on him though.....somebody should!
 

Andersons Dietician

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Problem with Raiola is he works for free and makes his money taking percentages of deals so he is always wanting to be able to get his clients moves and have them in positions where he can move them on Easily.

Haaland to Dortmund is pretty much the perfect move for Raiola and by the sound of it Haaland snr. If Haaland keeps scoring and improving then someone will probably offer north of 100mil and both stand to make a large profit off that.

Is Raiola a grade A cat funt... yes, but the guy must be making serious bank.

Would however love nothing more if Pogba released a statement telling him to pipe down or just drops him all together. He’d be adored by United fans for that power move alone.
 

Ødegaard

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The man is a stain on football. Any idea why a number of the top players sign for him? I was surprised Haaland was with him.
He makes them a ton of money, has their back when they wish to move or struggle. Doesn't mind being the villain if need be. Going by reports he also becomes quite close friends with some of his clients.
I can absolutely understand it from a player perspective, but it's infuriating from a fan-perspective. :p
 

dev1l

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If media reports are correct, Barcelona was very much interested in signing De Ligt as recently as last summer, and De Ligt is a Riola client. We ourselves tried to sign both De Ligt, as well as Haaland. That is – going for one Riola client in each of the recent transfer windows.

I am all for avoiding Raiola, but he is not an insignificant agent. Appreciate you sharing the names of the clubs who are also avoiding him. I hope United follows their example.
I think Barcelona contacted DeLigt before DeLigt engaged Raiola
 

mu4c_20le

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To be fair, if I am a very good player or player with huge potential, I may be tempted to appoint Raiola as my agent to serve my best interest too. Footballer career is relatively short (around 15 years in average), have to make the most out of it.
Until he starts burning bridges. If more clubs stood up to him and refused to deal with him, you can bet his clients will jump ship or at least be wary about signing with him.
 

Beachryan

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He gets his client what they want. He's on their side, not ours. If we liked him, he'd be doing something wrong.

It sucks, but that's what agents are there for.
 

NewGlory

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To be fair, if I am a very good player or player with huge potential, I may be tempted to appoint Raiola as my agent to serve my best interest too. Footballer career is relatively short (around 15 years in average), have to make the most out of it.
Why would you want an agent who doesn't have your interest at heart and always tries to maximize HIS own profits? And what does "making most" mean? Anybody at top level will make enough money but would you rather make 5 millions more, over your footballing career or win trophies?

He gets his client what they want. He's on their side, not ours. If we liked him, he'd be doing something wrong.

It sucks, but that's what agents are there for.
I have seen no evidence of Raiola being on his clients' side. Everything we know about him shows that he is looking to make most money himself, even if it hurts his clients.
 

SplitzMagic

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Raiola doesn't actually have the best clients. He just had the best players at the right time.

Take a look at transfermarkt, he has verratti, pogba, thuram, insigne and a few others that in reality we wouldn't be after anyway.

The board are the worst, we didn't learn since what fergie said about him and we're paying for it now.

Although Zlatans an exception, it doesn't matter what agent he has. He's always going to deliver!

Pogba is just a mercenary and only came back to utd for the hype to elevate his career as utd is a commercial machine and I'm sure it was planned by raiola.
 

JPRouve

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Why would you want an agent who doesn't have your interest at heart and always tries to maximize HIS own profits? And what does "making most" mean? Anybody at top level will make enough money but would you rather make 5 millions more, over your footballing career or win trophies?
Is the last sentence supposed to describe Raiola? Because the clients good enough to be in competitive clubs are in competitive clubs that win trophies.
 

NewGlory

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Is the last sentence supposed to describe Raiola? Because the clients good enough to be in competitive clubs are in competitive clubs that win trophies.
I am not sure about that. What is Borussia Dortmund going to win with Haaland? How was that a better move than Juventus?

And if rumors are correct that he derailed De Ligt from joining Barca, dragging him to Juventus instead... Was it a good decision for De Ligt or Raiola?
 

JPRouve

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I am not sure about that. What is Borussia Dortmund going to win with Haaland? How was that a better move than Juventus?

And if rumors are correct that he derailed De Ligt from joining Barca, dragging him to Juventus instead... Was it a good decision for De Ligt or Raiola?
Haaland is 19 years old and developing, moving too soon to a big club isn't necessarily a good idea, they can't guarantee playing time or proper development. They generally offer a lot of money though. As for picking Juventus over Barcelona, thy are both big clubs that will win trophies and Barcelona are among the clubs that give the biggest wages, so I'm not sure about how it fits with your argument.
 

Ødegaard

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I am not sure about that. What is Borussia Dortmund going to win with Haaland? How was that a better move than Juventus?

And if rumors are correct that he derailed De Ligt from joining Barca, dragging him to Juventus instead... Was it a good decision for De Ligt or Raiola?
At Juventus Håland would have had to beat out Higuain and still develop his game to help Ronaldo instead of being the focal point.

At United he would have had to deal with Martial, Rashford and Greenwood while being at a team that doesn't look like it will be competing for a long time.

At Dortmund he will be in the CL and be the main striker (Alcacer wanting out) while not having to learn a new language and Dortmund (unless I'm wrong, entirely possible) is one of the top 3 teams in the league and one of the few who can compete with Bayern. A team that is good at developing talent and has another super-talent in Sancho.

On another note, if anyone who follows Dortmund is reading, can someone tell me about what is going on with Favre and Sancho? A mate of mine said that Sancho will leave due to Favre, is he full of shit or have I missed something?
 

hungrywing

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He makes them a ton of money, has their back when they wish to move or struggle. Doesn't mind being the villain if need be. Going by reports he also becomes quite close friends with some of his clients.
I can absolutely understand it from a player perspective, but it's infuriating from a fan-perspective. :p
'He's....different', is probably how his clients see him/how he sells himself to them.

Looks an awful lot like he romanticizes himself as an intelligent-ape type, 'going head to head with these nerdy bean counters with their diplomas who can't fight to save their lives and would probably piss their pants if someone threw a punch at them'.

Usually works well on either extreme of the personality spectrum - from 'this guy is like me' (Zlatan/Pogba) to 'Wow, I wish I could be less meek and more like him; I should probably have him on my side' (Mhkitaryan) - less often on the middle range.
 

red woppit

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Wouldn't it be great if all the big European clubs boycotted Raoila clients, then eventually, clients would not go to him because they wouldn't get to play for the 'big clubs'. Happy days.
 

Suedesi

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It has nothing to do with just the agent fees. This guy has been pushing for Pogba to leave since Pogba's second season. It's not about dealing with top agents, but dealing with personalities. We knew what Raiola was before Pogba came as we had dealt with Pogba leaving before. Yet we chose to move forward with it despite the signs because we wanted that quick fix instead of observing the whole situation. That's the difference between us then and now. We used to look at alot of things rather than just on pitch performance to determine the fit of a player to our culture and team.
And you don't think Pogba is part of that decision? If Mino was pushing for a transfer, and Paul wanted to absolutely stay he'd have changed agents multiple times over.
 

NewGlory

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At Juventus Håland would have had to beat out Higuain and still develop his game to help Ronaldo instead of being the focal point.
Ronaldo is 34. At some point he will have to retire. Haaland could grow under him and replace him in 1-2 years. I mean nothing is guaranteed, but that's something you can plan for. Either way, I think we can agree that Dortmund is very unlikely to win any trophies, domestically or in CL, so there's that.
 

Suedesi

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The man is a stain on football. Any idea why a number of the top players sign for him? I was surprised Haaland was with him.
He's a very good agent, that looks after the career of his players. He's not some rogue agent, I'm sure Paul's wishes are to find another team.


Many United fans feel like Raiola is trying to push Pogba away from the club in an attempt to secure himself a hefty payday. But, speaking to Love Sport Radio, legendary agent Barry Silkman explained that Raiola is unlikely to be the source of the problem - the discontent is more likely to be coming from the player himself.

"Raiola is powerful. Very very powerful. But I've never met an agent yet who doesn't take instructions from his clients, so trust me when I tell you that Pogba will be telling Railo what he wants".

"Mino is very direct. He will say it as it is, he won't give reasons - he'll just make statements, and that then gets sensationalised by the papers. But he's like every other agent - he is led by what his players say""He knows that because he's got top players, top clubs will always come back to him. And he knows that if they don't, it'll be them who lose out, not him. That's just the way it is".

"With the Pogba situation, 100% it's lead by the player, not by his agent".
 

NewGlory

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Haaland is 19 years old and developing, moving too soon to a big club isn't necessarily a good idea, they can't guarantee playing time or proper development. They generally offer a lot of money though. As for picking Juventus over Barcelona, thy are both big clubs that will win trophies and Barcelona are among the clubs that give the biggest wages, so I'm not sure about how it fits with your argument.
Based on what was reported in media, Barca refused to pay outrageous agent fees that Raiola was demanding. De Ligt is not doing very well at Juve, from what I understand. In contrast, Barca ended up playing Lenglet as starting CB. I think De Ligt could have hoped for having a starting position, if Lenglet could do it.

As for Haaland, as I mentioned above - Ronaldo is 34 and will have to retire in couple years. What better chance to develop than to join Juve with an eye of replacing Ronaldo eventually? But that wouldn't give sell-on percentage to Raiola. Hence the doubts about the motivations and honesty.
 

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Suedesi

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Based on what was reported in media, Barca refused to pay outrageous agent fees that Raiola was demanding. De Ligt is not doing very well at Juve, from what I understand. In contrast, Barca ended up playing Lenglet as starting CB. I think De Ligt could have hoped for having a starting position, if Lenglet could do it.

As for Haaland, as I mentioned above - Ronaldo is 34 and will have to retire in couple years. What better chance to develop than to join Juve with an eye of replacing Ronaldo eventually? But that wouldn't give sell-on percentage to Raiola. Hence the doubts about the motivations and honesty.
De Ligt wanted to become the best defender in the world and chose the team/league with the best defending reputation around.

I totally respect his choice, it's very smart. He's a young kid, learning his trade, he chose the Harvard of defending.

Learning from Chiellini and Bonucci Mourinho jokingly said that they could lecture at Harvard about defending, can't beat that for the young lad.
 

NewGlory

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Thank you for sharing but I am not sure what that proves. He wasn't going to say "I did it to maximize my profit". The guy is a master of spinning stories

It's hard to argue what could have been. De Ligt may totally trash his career and still you won't be able to say that had he gone to Barca it would have worked out. The world of "what ifs" is a fantasy world.

I am just saying, Raiola has a reputation and if I was a footballer I would be more concerned of that reputation of self-service than whether he can get me an extra buck. That is all