Ahead of the summer transfer window, Italian superagent Mino Raiola has been handed a three-month transfer ban by the Italian FA for unknown reasons. Raiola announced he is appealing the suspension.
Raiola is best known for representing Paul Pogba, plus Mario Balotelli, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Blaise Matuidi, Marco Verratti, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and many others.
The statement from the Italian FA read, “The Sports Procurators Commission condemns Mr Carmine [Mino] Raiola and Mr Vincenzo Raiola, on their own behalf and as legal representatives of the companies they represent to sanction of the suspension from the exercise of the activity of sports attorney to the extent, respectively: with regard to Mr. Carmine Raiola, of 3 months, with regard to Mr. Vincenzo Raiola, of 2 months.”
Raiola himself said he does not know why he was banned, incredulously claiming it to be “perhaps the result of a story by some frustrated weirdo.”
“I immediately called in lawyers and I appeal,” the 51-year-old told Dutch outlet Eindhoven Daglbad. “This is a personal error. I have not received any explanation.”
“You can ask me three thousand questions about it, but I honestly don’t know what is going on,” Raiola insisted. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the suspension has to do with the 2015 transfer of Gianluca Scamacca from Roma’s youth system to PSV. Scamacca, now 20 years old, was just 16 at the time, and the transfer reportedly angered Roma.
“My personal feeling is that this punishment responds to a political will, without taking the law into account,” Raiola later said in a tweeted statement. “It’s a sanction based on falsehoods and lies. Law and justice must prevail in any correct system and I hope my name will be restored in the next chapter of this story.”
Raiola’s ban only takes effect with regards to Italian clubs, so it shouldn’t affect Pogba’s reported efforts to leave Manchester United for a top Spanish club. It would have affected Romelu Lukaku’s reported interest from both Juventus and Inter, but Lukaku left Raiola earlier this year for Roc Nation Sports.
It could, however, affect the summer fortunes of Dutch youngster Matthijs de Ligt, who is represented by Raiola. The 19-year-old Ajax captain has been linked with top clubs all over the map, with Juventus included in the mix.