Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
A message of tribute for super-football agent Mino Raiola along with his picture went viral on social media claiming that he has died at the age of 54 due to an unspecified illness- only that the message of tribute was viral on social media from April 28, two days before his actual demise.
The message of tribute was shared on Twitter by user @infosfcb who has 52,500 followers on the platform. The tweet has garnered 1,059 likes and 121 retweets and is shared along with the caption ‘BREAKING |‼️ Football super agent Mino Raiola is reportedly dead due to illness. Rest in Peace.’
Newschecker found similar claims on Twitter with similar captions.
Mino Raiola has been at the helm of football transfers since he started his career in the eighties, brokering Dennis Bergkamp’s move from Ajax to Inter Milan in the summer of 1993. He represents big names in football including the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland. Raiola has been dealing with an unspecified illness for some time and back in January his entourage tweeted he was taken to the San Raffaele for what were described as routine checks.
Fact Check/ Verification
Upon conducting a keyword search, Newschecker found a news report by NDTV uploaded on 28th April, 2020 titled ‘Mino Raiola Angered At Media Reports Of His Death.’
According to the report “Football “super agent” Mino Raiola said he was angered by the reports of his death. Football “super agent” Mino Raiola shot back on Thursday at widespread media claims that he had died at the age of 54, taking to Twitter to say he was angered by the reports. Reports of the death of Raiola, whose clients include Paul Pogba and one of world football’s current hottest properties, Erling Braut Haaland, quickly spread from Italy. It was the second time this year that speculation surrounding his health has been denied by Raiola or his entourage.”
Upon further investigation, Newschecker found a tweet made by the official handle of Mino Raiola. Reacting to the news that he had died, Raiola tweeted “Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate.” on 28th April, 2022.
Newschecker also found a news report by the Mirror uploaded on the 28th April, 2022 titled ‘Mino Raiola “fighting to survive” after Italian reports football agent had died.’
According to the report published by the Mirror“Raiola is thought to be in the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. “I’m outraged by the phone calls from pseudo-journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting to survive,” Alberto Zangrillo – a doctor at the hospital – is reported as saying.”
The report further added that “The agent underwent surgery in January after being hospitalised in Italy. The nature of the operation wasn’t revealed and remains unclear. Reports at the time suggested Raiola’s condition wasn’t life threatening and he completed his rehabilitation at home.
“Mino Raiola was subjected to ordinary medical checks which required anaesthesia,” confirmed Raiola’s official Twitter account in January. “These are scheduled checks, there has been no emergency intervention.”
Conclusion
According to the investigation conducted by Newschecker, false reports of the death of football super-agent Mino Raoila were shared on social media days before his death.
Result: Fabricated Content/False
(UPDATE: This copy was published on April 29, 2022, a day after reports of Mino Raiola’s death went viral on social media. This article was updated on May 2, 2022 to include the news of his death which was confirmed on April 30.)
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
