There is growing speculation that Manchester United will tomorrow bid a world record transfer for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba. Sky Italia earlier reported that United will make an £87million bid within the next 24 hours as new boss Jose Mourinho looks to add to his already impressive transfer acquisitions of Eric Bailey, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
If United get hold of Pogba, the club will surely be a challenging for honours next season whilst welcoming back a player many fans didn’t want to see the back of when he left in the summer of 2012.
There was a suggestion that Paul Pogba could well be leveraging United’s interest for his own personal gain – potentially a big money move to European Champions Real Madrid. Surely one of the best midfielders in Europe would want to compete against Europe’s elite in the Champions League next season? Based upon the latest reports circulating today, it would appear not – with Mourinho getting his house in order very early, a far cry from the delayed, bumbling and clumsy transfer strategies of both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
The acquisition of Pogba will be a major coup for the club and not since the early noughties have United fans seen such spending on a mixture of experienced professionals and potential. Sir Alex Ferguson spend big on Seba Veron, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. In recent times, we have seen big money moves in the form of Angel Di Maria and Dimitar Berbatov, which simply didn’t work out as United fans would have wanted – but this time around Mourinho appears to be acting quickly to get his squad in place for the season ahead.
Earlier, Sky Sports reported that Real Madrid had pulled out of the running to sign the French midfielder, who scored a single goal in seven appearances at Euro 2016, due to financial reasons. Yesterday, the Real Madrid manager and legendary playmaker Zinedine Zidane kept his cards close to his chest, stating that he was a fan of Pogba – but has a big squad:
“I am happy with the squad I have got and it’s difficult to improve on it. Do I like Pogba? Of course, he’s a very good player and every club wants the best players but right now he’s at Juve and we have a large squad already.”
If Pogba does become a Manchester United player, he will be one of the top earners in Europe – with an estimated package of £250,000 per week over a five year period. For a player that cost United next to nothing to sign back in 2009 from Le Harve, the club will have to pay nearly £165 million (over five years) for the player’s services.
I hope Pogba signs, never wanted to see him go and thought he should have been given more time in the first time. Can’t believe Fergie picked Park and Rafael ahead of him in one game in centre midfield!