The football agent who was expected to receive
up to £41million from Paul Pogba's 2016 Manchester United transfer is involved in threatening
a potential lawsuit against Fifa over a clampdown on his industry.
Mino Raiola joined forces with fellow "super agents" Jorge Mendes and Jonathan Barnett
at London talks on Wednesday where colleagues pledged to take the governing body to "every
court in the world" if necessary.
Fifa's crackdown was announced two years after a book published in Germany - Football Leaks:
The Dirty Business of Football - exposed enormous fees being received by agents from both buying
and selling clubs.
The book claimed Raiola was entitled to £22.8 million of the £89 million fee paid by United
to Juventus to sign Pogba in August 2016, as well as more than £16 million in further
payments and an additional £2.2 million from the player.
Last September, Fifa - following years of calls for tougher curbs - announced plans
to limit agents of the selling club to a maximum of 10 percent of the transfer fee.
Also as part of the reforms, a new cap will be three percent of the player's fee and three
percent of the player's fee for agents of a buying club.
Despite the astronomical fees, Barnett claimed agents are not being treated fairly by Fifa.
The agent, who also reporters that Gareth Bale, his client, was not interested in a
loan move away from Real Madrid, added: "No-one from Fifa has ever been to my office or had
a conversation with me.
If you ask players what they want, they are in favour of agents.
There are never complaints about agents' fees from players.
We will try until the last minute to resolve the problem but rest assured, if necessary
we will go to every court in the world."
Global annual spending on commissions has reached a record £501m - an increase of almost
20 percent on 2018, and 80 percent of that total was paid by clubs from Italy, England,
Germany, Portugal, Spain and France combined.
Mel Stein, life president of the Association of Football Agents, said his organisation
had agreed a "united policy" in respect of Fifa's proposals.
The agents will now write to Fifa to demand a formal consultation process.
Raiola was later non-committal as he was asked by broadcasters about Pogba's future transfer
movements, but indicated United's ongoing struggles on the pitch would factor into his
decision.
The agent also insisted his relationship was "professional, honest" with United, despite
having previously been critical of the club.
Barnett, meanwhile, said there have been no talks of Bale moving to Tottenham.
Last night Fifa defended its proposals.
"All these proposals from Fifa on agent regulation are sensible, reasonable, rational, proportionate
and necessary to protect the interests of players and the wider interests of football,"
a statement said.
"They are also in line with sentiment repeatedly expressed by institutions such as the European
Commission and European Parliament."