Mino Raiola’s cousin visits Juventus hours after claims super agent had died

The cousin of Mino Raiola paid a visit to Juventus on Thursday as rumours about the super agent’s death spooked the football world.

Raiola is believed to be in a ‘serious but stable’ condition in the San Raffaele hospital in Milan having proclaimed himself ‘p***ed off’ at premature reports of his demise in the Italian media on Thursday.

And in an apparent effort to project an image of business as usual, his cousin Vincenzo visited the Juventus training centre just hours after the story broke.

Juve players Matthijs de Ligt and Luca Pellegrini are both clients of Raiola and potentially Vincenzo, who posted a clip of him arriving at the Turin club on Instagram, wanted to reassure them about his relation’s condition.

It came as Inter Milan’s chief executive Giuseppe Marotta wished Raiola well in his recovery.

‘I hope he will be OK. I am bound to him by a friendship based on several clashes we had. Mino is a well-prepared, cunning agent, but very correct,’ Marotta said.

 The football world was spooked by premature reports in Italy of Mino Raiola’s death on Thursday – but the prominent agent is battling illness in a Milan hospital

Raiola took to Twitter to deny rumours of his own demise, saying he was ‘p***ed off’

Vincenzo Raiola (right), the cousin of Mino (left), visited Juventus training ground on Thursday after reports of his relative’s ill health emerged. (Above pictured with Lorenzo Insigne)

Vincenzo posted an Instagram clip of himself arriving at Juventus on Thursday afternoon

‘He has this characteristic of saying up front what he thinks, in this also the economic demands are always exorbitant, but clear.

‘I’ve managed many deals with him, most of all is that of [Paul] Pogba to [Manchester] United, earning Juventus €110 million [£89m].

‘There he was very good at making it happen. I can consider him the best in the business.’

Pogba is among a number of high-profile Raiola clients, with Erling Haaland, Romelu Lukaku, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Zlatan Ibrahimovic also on his books.

Reports that Raiola had died following an illness began circulating on Italian news channels on Thursday lunchtime.

A string of messages of condolences followed from across the stunned world of football, including one from LaLiga giants Real Madrid.

But some of Raiola’s industry colleagues were left confused by the reports, having been in contact with the 54-year-old, and it soon emerged they were premature.

Raiola, who has been in poor health and is in hospital in Milan, wrote on Twitter: ‘Current health status for the ones wondering: p****d off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to resuscitate.’

The Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt (left) is represented by Mino Raiola 

Giuseppe Marotta, the chief executive of Inter Milan, wished Raiola all the best 

Real Madrid tweeted out their condolences to Raiola’s family before swiftly deleting it

Raiola pictured with the Manchester United and France footballer Paul Pogba (right)

The agent pictured in attendance at a Serie A football match in Italy during last season

Mario Balotelli hit out at the Italian media outlets that reported Raiola’s death

By then the claims had already been corrected. Raiola’s right-hand man Jose Fortes Rodriguez told Dutch TV: ‘He is in a bad position, but he hasn’t died.’

Alberto Zangrillo, head of the anaesthesia and intensive care unit of San Raffaele hospital in Milan, said: ‘I am outraged by the phone calls from pseudo-journalists who speculate on the life of a man who is fighting.’

Madrid later deleted their post and another of Raiola’s players, former Manchester City and Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli, said: ‘You need to be first huh? Shame on you and seriously be ashamed of your education, respect, values and responsibilities! #staystrongmino.’

Raiola was previously hospitalised in January due to an unspecified issue.

A statement on his Twitter account at the time said: ‘Mino Raiola is undergoing ordinary medical checks that require anaesthesia. All was planned and no emergency surgery happened.’