Was Mino Raiola a parasite and bad for football? ⚽️

The unfortunate passing of polarising super agent Mino Raiola last week has, and will have, a huge impact on the football market this summer and beyond. I was asked during a lecture recently whether I agreed with the statement that 'super agent' Mino Raiola was a parasite and bad for football. Here was my answer:
"There is a nuanced answer to this which needs to acknowledge all of the stakeholders and perspectives involved.
On the one hand, the polarising Raiola undeniably represented some of the best players in world football. By tha metric, he is one of the best football agents in the world. Similarly in terms of conteacts secured, he has negotiated some of the most lucrative contracts in the world, so again would have to be been near the top of the list. But he was also one of the most controversial figures in the game that attracted a lot of negative publicity.
Why he didn't enjoy the same positive public image of important agents such as Jorge Mendes, for example, is that whilst many agents deliver value to their clients through building with players and clubs alike, Raiola seemed uninterested by the latter, unfazed by negative publicity, and was focused purely on the best outcome for his clients to the detriment of any party who's interests weren't aligned. I can imagine Raola was difficult to deal with from a club's perspective because he was so ruthless in that agenda.
The media and ensuing public opinion focused on the huge sums he was paid, which was framed as him taking money out of the game. I think the Paul Pogba deals are a good example of the ways he operated that caused such negative opinion. Pogba ran down his contract at Manchester United and left with training compensation only due to the club; this was considered a huge slight to the club which had invested so much in his development. This was fueled by the fact the club was Manchester United, a well run, global club with a world class manager and CEO, viewed through the aperture of being manipulated by a greedy agent and/or player. Particularly when it became known that Roaila secured himself a large % of the future transfer fee in the process, an element that was amplified when the next deal took him back to Manchester United.
When viewed as a zero sum game, it is arguably true that Raoila had engineered a situation that had taken a vast sum of money from the club and exorbitantly lined his own pockets in the process. But if you look at this through the his remit of securing thr best contracts for his client, and the perspectives of the player, the agent and the new club Juventus, this was a successful deal. A win-win to use a common platitude. Any club would be willing to take a player as talented and young as Pogba was back then, for relatively little cost, have him positively impact their team for several seasons (they won several Serie A & Coppa Italia titles during his time at the club), and sell on at a huge profit further down the line; so of course they'd be willing to pay the agent who engineered this deal a bigger than normal agent's fee, and a minority share of the profit. In many other industries this type of deal set up would be considered par for the course.
For the avoidance of doubt I'm not saying I agree with this way of working, I'm filling in the blanks in picture from a more pragmatic rounded perspective. As loved by his players as he was, and as disliked by many clubs and fans, what is undoubtedly true is that the football world has lost one of the biggest dealmakers in the history of football."
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