Super agent who has made Manchester City superstar one of best-paid players on the planet

They say that behind every successful man is a great woman.

And for Erling Haaland, that woman is Brazilian super-agent Rafaela Pimenta, who is in the process of catapulting the Manchester City striker alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to become one of football’s highest-paid players.

Within less than a year, Ms Pimenta has negotiated the striker’s £51.2 million transfer to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund, as well as extensive sponsorship deals with Nike and Breitling watches. Not a bad start considering she didn’t even expect to become Haaland’s agent.

The opportunity arose when his previous agent and 50-year-old Pimenta’s business partner, Italian-Dutch football agent Carmine ‘Mino’ Raiola, passed away last April.

Representing Haaland has not always been easy. She says sexism in football is one of the biggest obstacles she faces.

She is busy catapulting the Manchester City striker alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to become one of football’s highest paid players.

Within less than a year, Ms Pimenta has negotiated the striker’s £51.2 million transfer to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund, as well as extensive sponsorship deals with watches from Nike and Breitling

Ms Pimenta said: ‘Margaret Thatcher could lead a country but not be a football agent. Because in football many men think they are the only ones who know.’

She remembers a negotiation with a club manager. He told her, “I have exchanged a lot with you by email. So you really exist. . . I thought you were just a hooker from Brazil.’

Ms. Pimenta says she still hangs out with that man, adding, “I don’t think it’s degrading to be a woman. If you’re trying to make me feel bad like that, it’s really stupid.’

After graduating from law school at university, she worked from 1995 to 2002 for Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the President of Brazil. While working in the government, Ms. Pimenta met Raiola at a charity football match.

Ms Pimenta also looks after former Manchester United player Paul Pogba and has begun representing some of Spain’s most high-profile female footballers.

Given the chance to create the identikit megastar – a player who ticks all the boxes in this ultra-individualistic, sexually ambivalent era – football’s cynical moneymen would no doubt invent someone like Erling Haaland.

Take his appearance first. “Surprisingly” doesn’t do her justice. With his blonde viking locks (usually in a match bun, but flowing down his back like bundles of Nordic spring wheat as he scored against City’s nearest rivals Arsenal this week), icy eyes, squidgy nose and rubbery lips, he could be the androgynous alter ego of Daemon Targaryen, the menacing prince in Game Of Thrones spin-off House Of The Dragon.

Though built like Conan the Barbarian, with his sky-blue stockings he stands nearly six feet tall and weighs 15th, but off the field he is the gentlest of the giants, meditating each morning to help him cope with the demands who poses his perfectionist. manager Pep Guardiola places on him.

His quirky alternative lifestyle also extends to filtering his tap water, following a largely organic diet (including whole ox hearts – no vegan he) and turning off all digital devices several hours before going to bed, and wearing blue tinted glasses to block out ‘interfering’ light rays and stabilize his circadian rhythm.

When he scores a goal, he doesn’t punch the air or kiss the badge on his shirt like other adrenaline-charged strikers. He seems oblivious to the chaos around him, slips into the lotus position and closes his eyes, the epitome of Zen.