MANCHESTER UNITED have struggled to hide their tough time in dealing with Mino Raiola and Paul Pogba’s agent doesn’t even accept voicemails.
As one of football’s busiest and now most important men, the 52-year-old is finding novel ways to dictate how negotiations unfold.
That is, if you can even get hold of him.
According to The Times, Raiola’s answer machine tells prospective interlocutors: “This is Mino. It’s not possible to leave me a voicemail. Send a text.”
It is fair to say anyone subsequently sending a text message might not hold out too much hope of gaining a reply.
United are said to have paid the agent a whopping £41million to help get the world-record Pogba deal over the line in August 2016.
Talks between the Red Devils and opposite club Juventus are described as somewhat harmonious when compared to the two-month slog with Raiola, opening up a fracture that doesn’t look like going away anytime soon.
Just last week he proclaimed United “would also ruin [Diego] Maradona, Pele and [Paolo] Maldini” having told Dutch outlet Voetbal International that he “didn’t threaten anyone with a gun” to re-sign former academy star Pogba.
Yet, the club are unlikely to simply cut ties with the Italian-born Dutchman given he represents a plethora of star players, from Marco Verratti to Gianluigi Donnarumma and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Two former targets and Raiola clients, Matthijs de Ligt and Erling Haaland, were strongly touted for a move to Manchester before opting for elsewhere.
Pogba’s future also looks set to lie away from Old Trafford.
SunSport understands both player and club are keen to settle an exit with Juventus and Real Madrid tipped to bid.
And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could get a ready-made replacement if a player-plus-cash deal can be agreed, Adrien Rabiot and Toni Kroos potentially on offer.
