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Manchester United are currently in a chaotic situation. The team lost 3-2 to Brighton on Sunday in a match that was far worse from Jose Mourinho’s players than the scoreline suggests. The manager and Ed Woodward do not seem to be on speaking terms, Mourinho did not get the transfers he wanted and was not properly backed in the market, while all sides try to turn blind eye to all of their shortcomings.
That includes all three sides in this story, but now another new problem emerged. His name is Mino Raiola. Paul Pogba’s agent was in the centre of attention on Tuesday, after his tweets being directed against Paul Scholes’ comments on the World Cup-winning midfielder.
Raiola Undermines Mourinho
Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba. Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club @paulpogba
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) August 21, 2018
The tweet from above came a bit later than the first one, that also targeted Scholes. However, this tweet is not only a tweet against the former Man United midfielder, but also against the team of Manchester United, the manager himself and even his own player, Paul Pogba. This tweet could be interpreted as an attack on Mourinho.
Raiola here implies that plenty of clubs are looking at Pogba right now and that he would not have issues of leaving Manchester and finding a new team. In a way, that is not controversial, as Pogba is a great player many clubs would want to have. What is controversial here is mentioning that Pogba could easily leave the club just 10 days after there were rumours of Barcelona wanting him. The window is not yet closed for Spanish clubs and they could chase him.
Sure, United could still say no as they would be unable to find a replacement now, but such moves would definitely cause unrest in Jose Mourinho’s team. Rocking Jose’s ship after a tough defeat looks like Raiola would be happy for United to change the manager.
Pogba Does Not Want To Stay
Maybe all of these tweets came as a Pogba’s way of saying he does not truly want to be part of the mess that seems to be growing rapidly. Some might argue that it is hard seeing Frenchman create such a plot, but it is not too far fetched to say modern footballers behave differently to what many fans are still accustomed to. The new generation of players wants everything now and want to be indulged. Thus, it is not entirely impossible.
Sure, all of this could just be plenty of hypotheticals, but Raiola’s tweets could also harm Pogba himself.
Would Pogba Sack Raiola?
All of this came just days after Mourinho praised Pogba in a press conference. If the manager did not fall out with him, then he might fall out with Raiola. The agent did not explicitly mention Mourinho in his tweets, but what he said is the area the manager oversees, too. So, if these tweets came through Raiola, without Pogba’s prior knowledge, could the player actually sack his agent?
That does not seem to realistic now, but one thing is for sure – Raiola loves creating chaos, as that is when he can get the most out of situation, whether that would be a transfer for the player or a new improved contract with a fat signing-on fee.
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