Mino Raiola's Stepping Stone? The Premier League or the Bundesliga?

The moment he walked into the café, Su Bai saw the somewhat portly Mino Raiola walking over of his own accord.

Su Bai had no intention of underestimating the unremarkable-looking fat man before him.

Mino Raiola was born on November 4, 1967, in Nocera, Salerno Province, Campania, in southern Italy.

However, due to extreme poverty, he moved with his family to the small Dutch city of Haarlem before he was even a year old.

In Haarlem, his family opened a Naples-style pizza shop. Raiola's first job was helping out in the store and expanding his parents' restaurant business. That experience taught him at an early age how to deal with people.

At nineteen, Raiola bought a McDonald's near his home, then promptly sold it to a real estate developer, making a fortune in an instant.

Afterward, he gave up his law degree to pursue the football field he loved, transforming himself into Haarlem's sporting director. This laid the foundation for his future career as an agent.

When Raiola first entered the agency business, he worked for the sports agency Sports Promotions, helping transfer prominent Dutch footballers to Italy. These included Ajax player Roy to Foggia in 1992, Marciano Vink to Genoa in 1993, Wim Jonk, Bergkamp to Inter Milan in 1993, and Michel Kreek to Padova in 1994. Among them, Roy's transfer was Raiola's first deal as an agent. The two had spent seven months together, and Raiola had even painted the walls of Roy's home for him.

After leaving Sports Promotions, Raiola began his own entrepreneurial journey and founded his own sports agency. His first major deal was Nedved's transfer. The Czech star had shone at Euro 1996, and thanks to Raiola's deep friendship with Lazio's then-manager Zeman, Raiola successfully helped Nedved move from Sparta Prague to the Biancocelesti, where the latter began his path to superstardom.

Five years later, Raiola successfully helped Nedved join Juventus, another masterful move. Juventus had just lost the world's best player, Zinedine Zidane, and desperately needed to bring in another superstar.

Nedved happened to be the perfect candidate. When reports emerged that the two sides were in talks, Moggi, Juventus's general manager at the time, quickly revealed many details of the transfer to the media, including photographs of Raiola and Nedved arriving in Turin. This directly cut off Nedved's path back to Lazio.

With the media already widely reporting on the transfer, Raiola gave them a taste of their own medicine. He leaked news and photographs of his meetings with Real Madrid officials to the Italian media. At the same time, taking advantage of Juventus's desperation, the hardline Raiola still demanded that Moggi meet all of his conditions. "I want Nedved to earn more at Juventus than Zidane earns at Real Madrid." Though Raiola's demand was merely a joke, it still put Moggi on high alert. After a prolonged tug-of-war, Moggi had no choice but to agree to Raiola's demands.

To many people, Raiola was a despicable man, but he was by no means a bad agent. When it came to seeking benefits for his clients, one could even call him the best in the world.

In short!

This fat man possessed not only an exceptionally sharp eye, but incomparable wisdom as well.

"Hi! Hughes, look, what do I see?"

Facing Su Bai, Raiola said with a smile to the assistant beside him.

"I see the future best winger in the world!"

"Hello, kid. My name is Mino Raiola! You can just call me Mino!"

It was a very comfortable opening.

Even though Su Bai had never met the fat man before, those opening words alone made him like the man.

"Hello, Mr. Mino!"

After shaking hands, the two sat down at the table.

"Su, let's get straight to the point. I think that instead of considering which team to sign for right now, what you need more is an agent!"

"And I'm the man you need!"

Raiola said confidently.

But such confidence was perfectly normal.

At the moment, he had stars like Ibrahimovic, Balotelli, Van Bommel, Hamsik, Pogba, and Lukaku under his wing.

The only reason he wanted to sign Su Bai was Su Bai's unbelievable talent.

He had never seen such terrifying talent before.

He believed that as long as Su Bai developed at a normal pace, it would take no more than three years for him to engineer a move to Real Madrid for the kid.

"Mr. Mino, what do you think I should do now?"

However, contrary to the response Raiola had expected, the kid before him did not immediately bow down before him because of his reputation.

Instead, he started asking questions.

This...

What an interesting little fellow. Still, anyone who could spend his own money to buy out his own contract in the middle of a season

was no ordinary person.

The question was clearly meant to test his mettle, wasn't it?

"Haha, Su!"

"It's simple!"

"To put it in one of your Chinese idioms, wait for the right price before selling!"

"You're a completely free agent now. I can see your talent and potential, and I believe every club in Europe can see it too!"

"You don't need to consider South America at all!"

"You should start directly in one of the top five leagues!"

"But I don't think a league like La Liga, which places more emphasis on teamwork and technical ability on the ball, suits your violent style of play!"

Cough, cough!

Su Bai felt a little awkward now.

Mino Raiola was plainly saying that his footwork was too rough and he wasn't suited to La Liga. But that was some real linguistic artistry—he could make even his own shortcomings sound so pleasant.

"As for Ligue 1, its profile is too low. There's absolutely no need to go there!"

"Serie A? I wouldn't really recommend it either. That place would make you miserable! Their defending is still very... you know. You're still young. A league for old men like that isn't really suitable for you!"

"So!"

"The Premier League! Or the Bundesliga!"

"Your choice lies between those two!"

PS: New book—please vote with your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. I'm begging you!