ERLING HAALAND’S agent has admitted that she “can’t say no to Barcelona” as she teased a future £1BILLION transfer.
The Norwegian hotshot, 22, has taken the Premier League by storm since his arrival at Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
He has scored 31 goals in 27 appearances for the Cityzens already and is one of the most-sought after strikers on the planet.
Haaland and a host of other footballing stars were rocked in May 2022 when their super-agent Mino Raiola passed away aged 54.
But before the Italian died, he had asked his close ally, Brazilian lawyer Rafaela Pimenta, to take over the reins of his business.
Now she is the one who looks after the best interests of Haaland and the rest of the iconic names the company has on-board.
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This week she sat down with Spanish publication AS to discuss the future of the hotshot – and she could not help hinting at a future to switch to LaLiga as she highlighted her and Raiola’s good relationship with Barcelona and their president Joan Laporta.
Pimenta said: “I always say that Laporta can’t ask me for anything in football, he’s not fair, because he knows I’m going to say ‘yes’.
She did move to quickly ease the fears of City fans as she insisted that he is “married” to the club, whom he is under contract to until 2027.
And then she revealed what she thought Haaland’s transfer value was, and with so many additional aspects including fans, digital content, notoriety and sponsors, she believes it tops the £1BN mark.
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Primenta added: “I know that nobody is going to pay 700 million for a player, but I am very clear that the value that Erling adds when he arrives at a club is immense, at least 1,000 million.”
For 18 years, Pimenta was Raiola’s right-hand woman – working by his side and learning the ropes.
She was entrusted as a vital cog in his affairs, as well as a brain to lean on for advice.
Their paths first crossed in around 1998 at launch event for a small Sao Paulo club called Guaratingueta, which she helped set up with Brazilian legends Rivaldo and Cesar Sampaio.
At the time, she was also a university professor of international law when she was lured into the world of football.
While before that, Pimenta worked for an antitrust team set up by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
But the chance meeting between Pimenta and Raiola was the beginning of a fruitful relationship – and they would go on to work for 18 years together, before his untimely death.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
