UNITED SPECIAL

THE phone rings. “Mino? It’s Ed.”

Taking a look at the biggest deals Ed Woodward has rubber-stamped since taking charge as executive vice-chairman, there has been an over-reliance on two agents in particular – Mino Raiola and Jorge Mendes.

Perhaps it is understandable. The one-time investment banker took on a role he had no real experience in back in 2013 and has called on two of the biggest names to help him deliver some huge transfers.

Although one of Mendes’ most famous clients, Jose Mourinho, is in the dug out, United have slowly begun to move away from his Gestifute stable.

At Real Madrid, Mendes’ influence took hold once Mourinho was appointed in the summer of 2010, but that has not been the case at United.

Ironically, Mendes’ most highprofile deals at Old Trafford, namely the Angel di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Anthony Martial transfers, came before Mourinho rocked up in Manchester.

Instead, Woodward has turned to Raiola.

While that partnership has cooled a little of late, the reality is the club’s best outfield players, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku, are represented by the 50-year-old.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan may have since departed, but the Reds have monitored a host of Raiola clients in the past, including Blaise Matuidi, Hirving Lozano, Justin Kluivert, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marco Verratti. That is not a coincidence.

Having such a strong relationship with one of the most powerful agents in the world will occasionally give United the edge, but it has brought its own problems, too.

Whereas Mendes rarely goes on the record, Raiola is not so shy. Indeed, as far back as 2000, he was telling the press United had agreed a deal with Lazio superstar Pavel Nedved.

When he went on to speak about Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli’s futures at Inter years later, he always dropped United’s name into the mix.

Then there is social media. When Raiola posts, he posts. Paul Scholes is the latest to feel his wrath after Raiola sarcastically tweeted the United great would have sleepless nights to find Paul Pogba a new club if he became the club’s sporting director.

That is not the kind of comment United need after a humiliating defeat to Brighton – and it is not the first time.

Just minutes before the Manchester derby, Mourinho was being asked about Pep Guardiola’s sensational revelation that Raiola had offered both Mkhitaryan and Pogba to him in January.

Clearly, Mr Three Hundred Million does not have United’s best interests at heart – and why should he? Raiola is not a United employee.

The Dutchman clearly feels that a move to Barcelona is in Pogba’s best interests. The same club he once said he had ‘no respect for..if the club has no respect for my players.’

His clients put their faith in him. Raiola is family, someone they invite on holiday, and his back-