'Whenever i tell my opinion, everyone in England goes berserk' - Raiola on Haaland, Pogba and future of football

Dutch-Italian football Agent Mino Raiola has emerged as one of the most influential and controversial figures in world football.

Football Agent Mino Raiola. Photo: Stefano Guidi/Getty Images

Raiola's clients includes some of football's biggest stars: Paul Pogba, Erling Braut Haaland, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marco Veratti among others.

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, football is currently facing a never-before-seen financial crisis and there is mounting scrutiny on agents, with the huge sums they can pocket from transfer deals.

On a host of issues, however, on behalf of his industry, Mino Raiola is vowing to challenge the game's authorities.

In an interview with BBCSport, Raiola said:

• he predicted Dortmund striker Haaland will be "one of the stars of the next decade"

• he was "bothered" by the perception of agents, but "my players don't call me a parasite"

• he "didn't want to cause any problem" when saying Pogba was unhappy at Manchester United, saying "whenever I tell my opinion, everyone in England goes berserk"

• agents are "preparing to go to court" over Fifa's "ridiculous" plans for regulation of their activities

• hailed the English Football League's (EFL) recent withdrawal of proposed salary caps for players after a tribunal, saying it was a "logical victory".

Agent Mino Raiola (r) with one of his clients Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

On Borussia Dortmund's Norwegian striker Erling Braut Haaland, Raiola said: "It is obvious that everybody is looking at Erling as one of those potential new future stars because it's so difficult to do what he does at his age at his level.

"He will be one of the future stars of the next decade because we see that stars such as Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo and Messi are coming to an age where everyone asks themselves: 'How long can we still enjoy them?' So everyone is looking for the new generation.

"Only a maximum of 10 clubs can afford to buy [Haaland] and give the platform you would like after you've been in Dortmund… and four of those clubs are in [England].

"I don't think there's a sports director or trainer in the world who would say 'not interested'. It's like saying: 'Is there a Formula 1 team who would not be interested in having Lewis Hamilton?'"

Agent Mino Raiola. Photo: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

On Manchester United French midfielder Paul Pogba, Raiola once suggested the Frenchman's time at Old Trafford could be over.

He said: "I just expressed an opinion, I didn't want to cause any problem.

"I don't think that it destabilised anybody, because they had a fantastic run and they were even first, for a period, in the league.

"You think big players like Paul Pogba - or [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer, who won everything in his life - get destabilised by what Mino Raiola says?

"Whenever I tell my opinion, everyone in England goes berserk, and I am the worst agent, or the best agent…and the clubs get so stressed from the public and journalists that I have learned not to talk much about it."

On salary cap and scrapping relegation, Raiola said: "There are no salary caps for CEOs that run big or small companies, there is no salary caps for actors, there's no salary cap for a Banksy!

Mino Raiola. Photo: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

"So why should there be a cap on talent of football players?"

He continued: "I would like to give clubs the possibility [over] the next three years, because of Covid, to maybe find a system where in some countries [they] say, 'Listen, you know what, let's not relegate any more', to have a more stable environment to build your reserves.

"In France, Spain, and Italy, it is a real financial disaster if you go down. And that puts clubs in a stressed position, where maybe they cannot make a decision for the future, but based only on the short term."

"The total system has to be looked at.

"In the Football Forum, we are not there to to kill clubs. We should try to be more modern and to sit down with all involved parties and to see where is it that we can help each other."