New agent may spell beginning of the end for Lukaku’s Everton stay
Published:
Romelu Lukaku hiring a new agent might not initially sound like bad news for Everton fans, but the fact that that man is Mino Raiola, could represent the beginning of the end for the Belgian’s Merseyside stay.
While the striker hasn’t put a transfer request, or specifically stated he wants out at Goodison, but his quote last month of “I just want to grow as a player and eventually arrive at a top club again”, cannot be dismissed lightly.
His latest move, linking up with notorious agent Raiola, could set the wheels in motion for a transfer away from the Toffees.
Looking through the player’s new right-hand-man’s history, he certainly has a track record of engineering big money moves for his clients.
Back in 1993 he oversaw the move that brought Dennis Bergkamp to Highbury from Inter Milan, for a monster fee at the time of £10.4m.
He’s also been responsible for handling deals totalling nearly £110m for Mario Balotelli, Robinho and Pavel Nedved.
But those fees pale into relative insignificance when we look at Raiola’s biggest client.
Since joining forces back in his Ajax days, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been represented by the Italian-born-Dutchman during his five big money moves.
The total transfer fees for such moves exceeds £96m, as Zlatan has plotted himself around Europe, with a large cut presumably heading the way of the 47-year-old.
Speaking to Tuttosport recently the Monaco-based broker described who Juventus need to sign to become the best team in Europe.
“In order to win the Champions League, Juve should keep Pogba, then sign Kishna from Ajax, Lukaku from Everton and Jonathas from Elche,” he claimed.
So with the man Andrea Pirlo once claimed would “sell his own name to close a deal” touting his newest client even before their partnership was announced, could the Old Lady beat another interested party, Wolfsburg, to the punch?
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £25 in free bets.
