THE WORLD’S MOST WANTED MAN
01 ERLInG HAALAnD
Age 21 Club Borussia
Dortmund Nationality
Norwegian Position Striker
A few years ago, a rare thing happened to Mino Raiola: he fell in love. The superagent turned on his TV to watch a young striker play for Molde, in Norway’s top division. Casual fans knew the kid was good. Raiola saw something more. He’d found the one.
Soon, Raiola had become an advisor to Erling Braut Haaland and his dad, Alfie, a former midfielder for Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Manchester City. Since then, none of them have done too badly – going into 2022, Raiola and Alfie are gearing up for one of the bidding wars of the decade.
A buyout clause will allow him to leave Borussia Dortmund next summer for €75 million, about half his market value. The victor of the frenzied auction will be whichever party entices Raiola and the Haalands the most – be it with love, money… or preferably both.
MINO KNOWS
Few agents sell their clients better than Raiola. With Haaland, however, the Italian-Dutch middle man has barely needed to say a word.
The 6ft 4in Norwegian is the talent of the century alongside Kylian Mbappe. Fast, strong and lethal, Haaland is a cyborg-ish freak of nature; a truly frightening alchemy of Thor, Speedy Gonzales and The Terminator.
At 21, his output bears comparison to the very best, past or present. Only Mbappe is able to match him. If you exclude penalties at the time of writing, the duo are averaging 0.79 goals per 90 minutes in league and European competition – a rate that beats every major talent aged below 22 over the past two
