When Mino Raiola is involved, it usually only ends one way.
Well, two ways, the player gets rich, but a transfer is inevitable. The Italian agent represents Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Mario Balotelli, and has now added Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, which will inevitably fuel transfer speculation.
Negotiations between Raiola and Manchester United broke down in 2012, over extending Pogba’s stay at Old Trafford, and the midfielder departed for Juventus. Mario Balotelli has moved from Inter Milan to Manchester City to AC Milan and back to the Premier League to Liverpool last summer. It would be a surprise to no-one if the Italian misfiring striker was on the move at the end of the current campaign.
While Zlatan, in his time represented by Raiola, has transferred from Ajax to Juventus, to Inter, to Barcelona, to AC Milan, to PSG.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez said yesterday people shouldn’t read too much into his striker’s decision to switch representation. ‘He has changed his agent but we are not concerned. He is entitled to do that’.
However, that was before Raiola had his say on Lukaku, and it doesn’t make good reading for the club.
‘If we had met each other earlier, he wouldn’t have played for Everton,’ said Raiola. ‘Maybe somewhere else, maybe he would still be at Chelsea. I want to be clear: Romelu is a better striker than Diego Costa and could have done the same as the Spaniard did this season. But the Chelsea directors had decided to buy another star than giving confidence to one of their young boys’.
Raiola went on to say Juventus wanted to sign the player last summer, before he joined Everton in a permanent deal for a club record fee of £28 million, and that he will eventually leave the Toffees.
‘We will see what happens in the summer, but the Everton directors don’t have to think Rom will play there for the rest of his career. Later on, he’ll play for one of world’s best teams: PSG, Manchester City, Manchester United or Bayern Munich. Big names, but nothing is impossible as Rom has great potential’. The striker himself said in February that he ‘just wants to grow as a player and eventually arrive at a top club again’, irking Everton fans.
It appears Lukaku is not long for Goodison Park. The agent, in fairness, owes Liverpool fans a good turn after saddling the club with Balotelli.
https://instagram.com/p/0px_hantp7/?taken-by=romelu.lukaku10
H/T The Guardian.
