Laiola eventually failed to overcome her illness, walked out of the intensive care unit, and at the age of 54, left this world. As a player agent, his life and death can trigger an earthquake in football, and even Real Madrid officials have appeared at one point. Laiola, who is also called the agent "the ultimate double pride" with Mendes, still influences the world football world at the last moment of her life.
This fat man who once angrily called Guardiola a dog and made many giants avoid it, is an angel in the eyes of a large group of stars. Perhaps only with the help of Laiola will you cherish how important he is.
01. He knows how to speak for seven Chinese: he became a millionaire at the age of 19
No matter how the current public opinion environment evaluates Raiola as a "football predator", first of all, we must admit that he is a genius. Growing up as a waiter in her father's pizzeria, Rayola laid a deep foundation for her language and treating people.
By the time Laiola graduated from high school and entered the university to study law, he had mastered the seven Chinese English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian.
Even more incredible, at the age of 19, Laiola became a millionaire by buying a McDonald's near the school in advance and then transferring it to a real estate developer.
In the decades since, Laiola has taken the "scalping" hand to the extreme, only buying and selling players.
At the age of 20, because he accused the owner of a small Dutch club, Haarlem, of not knowing football and relying on red mouth and white teeth, Laiola became the team's technical director, for which he gave up his university studies and chose to drop out.
But soon Raiola realized that he shouldn't be managing the team, and that it was more suitable for him to be a sports agency. After selling Ajax player Lorraine Roy to Serie A for Foggia, Raiola started his career.
Now under Raiola, he plays in Italy, England, the Netherlands, France and even South and North American football.
Compared with Mendes, who specializes in Portuguese, Laiola has more geniuses and superstars in his hands, and his influence on football is actually even more amazing.
02. The most controversial agent: Scolding Guardiola as a dog
Since its opening, Laiola has given the impression of the major giants as unscrupulous, greedy, and rebellious.
As early as when Nedved joined Juventus, even the old man Moji had to concede defeat to Laiola. Nedved, who trusted him so much at the time, signed a blank contract and told the agent: "Tell me tomorrow morning whether I should play for Lazio or Juventus".
Raiola then began his performance, first asking Juventus to pay Nedved a higher salary than Real Madrid gave Zidane. After being satisfied, Raiola repented: "I want Y, not X, you must be satisfied."
After juve was furious and foul-mouthed, Raiola simply chose to leave, and eventually he got the number he wanted, and Nedved put on his zebra robe.
Nedved's story is just the beginning, and Raiola gradually becomes a "nightmare" for the giants. In the 2009-10 season, because Ibrahimovic was not trusted by Guardiola, Raiola, the agent, said amazingly: "If someone pays 75 million to buy Ibrahimovic and doesn't want him to play, then he should be sent to a mental hospital." ”
After Ibrahimovic left, Raiola shelled Guardiola again in 2015: "As a coach he is great, but he can only give 0 points as a man, he is a coward, Guardiola is a dog." ”
So when Laiola recommended Pogba to Guardiola later that day, the Spanish coach simply refused: "He wants to recommend his players to my team? There are no doors! ”
In negotiations, Laiola will always use every means to help players demand higher salaries, more agent commissions, even shorter contracts and lower termination terms from the club, because in Laiola's plan, players will soon need to prepare for the next transfer.
In the past, Repogba left from Manchester United freely at the instigation and arrangement of Laiola, when Ferguson directly scolded Raiola: "Garbage! From the moment I met him, I wouldn't trust him at all."
In 2019, when United not only spent £89 million in transfer fees in order to buy pogba back, but also needed to give Rayola a sky-high commission of 41 million and a weekly salary of £290,000 to Pogba.
But when Pogba did not perform well at Manchester United, Laiola publicly accused the team: "I will never send players to Manchester United again, even Maradona and Pele, Manchester United can destroy them." 」 ”
A similar story happened to Haaland, who moved him to Borussia Dortmund because the team accepted a €75 million severance clause, so this summer, where Haaland moves is never up to Dortmund.
In addition to paying Haaland a transfer fee, the next family also had to give Rayola and Haaland's father a commission close to the transfer fee.
03. He is an angel in the eyes of the players: because he puts the interests of the players first
No matter how much the team's manager and boss hate Laiola, the stars and geniuses in his hands trust the agent predator.
Van den Wald explains this well: "Other agents, when negotiating with the team, will be afraid of losing trust in the team and will not be able to continue to do business in the future, but Laiola will not, he will always put the interests of his players first." ”
For Ibrahimovic, La Raiola scolded Guardiola as a dog, and for Balotelli, he fired at the Liverpool manager: "Klopp is not a good coach, in my opinion he is not even qualified to be a coach. Balotelli is very professional, saying that Klopp's mistakes are a bit cheap for him, and he is a piece of. ”
Not only will she curse, Raiola always treats her players like a family, so she has their full trust.
In 2011, when there was a fire in Balotelli's home, his knee-jerk reaction was to call Laiola, who was also a little embarrassed after listening: you call the fire brigade right away!
At one point in his career (only 6 goals in 24 games), Raiola told him that if you want to succeed, you have to listen to me: "Sell your luxury car and gold watch, train at least 3 times a day, because your performance is too garbage now." 」 ”
Although Raiola loves money, his guidance and reminders to his players are sincere and really help them succeed. If there is a problem with the team, Laiola will be the first to step forward, and winning trust is also a natural result.
Raiola once explained her work this way: "I will ask my players what your motivation is to play, and if you can't give a clear answer, you will go home and figure it out and come back to me." You decide how to go in the future, and my job in Laiola is to be responsible for clearing all obstacles. ”
He did his job well, so Laiola's players wouldn't mind him "making a lot of money". In 2018 Forbes stats, the total amount of player contracts negotiated by Rayola as an agent has reached $628 million.
He earned $62.9 million in 2018, while Pogba, who has returned to Manchester United, earns only half as much. But the players don't care, because as long as they are in trouble, it must be Laiola who comes forward.
Once because of Laiola's calculations, FIFA even had to change the rules for him: a broker could not be a representative of buyers and sellers in the same transfer transaction.
It also puts a cap on the percentage of commission an agent receives from buyers, sellers and players, a new rule also known as the agent's commission cap.
Perhaps his biggest regret for Laiola is that he didn't have a household Name Ballon d'Or star like Mendes (despite Nedved winning the 2003 Ballon d'Or).
Haaland was expected to let him realize this wish, but unfortunately he could not wait for this day, and he did not even have time to win the sky-high commission of Haaland's transfer.
Conclusion:
Laiola, who earned his first pot of gold at the age of 19, has a wonderful life. No matter how many people hate him, it also proves from one side how successful he is.
Single-handedly disrupting the football transfer market, the star players can even form a Champions League champions lineup, from some points of view, perhaps Mendes wants to be with him, will be a little "lack of confidence".