3 Potential destinations for £150m Paul Pogba | Premier League 2019-20
Paul Pogba’s future at Manchester United has been up in the air for some time, with the French midfielder seemingly linked with a move away for the past couple of years.
The World Cup winner is currently on the sidelines rehabbing an ankle injury, but recent reports suggest that his time at Old Trafford could be nearing an end; the suggestion is that Pogba’s asking price has been slashed from a ridiculous £190m down to £150m – still an eye-watering sum, but a fee that a few clubs could be willing to meet.
Here are 3 potential destinations for Paul Pogba should he leave Manchester United.
#1 Real Madrid
Links between Pogba and Real Madrid have persisted for some time; the Frenchman was said to have favoured a move there last summer, and the Spanish giants were also reportedly interested in moving for him last month, although no such move came about in the end.
The suggestion was that Real simply forked out too much money on other players in the summer – names like Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic – to afford the huge transfer fee for the French midfielder, but the Spanish giants never seem far away from being willing to splash huge cash out on star players and to bring a name like Pogba to the Bernabeu would not only help them on the pitch, it’d keep their profile as high as possible off it, too.
Most notable is the fact that Los Blancos’ current boss Zinedine Zidane is a known admirer of his countryman, and vice versa. And with current star midfielders like Luka Modric and Toni Kroos getting no younger, there’d be no question that Pogba could fit right into Real’s side and make an immediate impact.
Of all the potential moves available to the Frenchman, this one probably makes the most sense, assuming Real are genuinely interested.
#2 Juventus
Juventus was Pogba’s destination the first time he left Manchester United back in the summer of 2012, and of course, the Red Devils then parted with a world record fee of £89m four years later to bring him back to Old Trafford. So could a return to the Turin-based giants be the Frenchman’s next move? It feels possible.
Firstly, Pogba was hugely successful and popular during his time with the Old Lady, winning the Scudetto on four occasions while at the club, and Juve’s constant dominance of Serie A would mean that a move back there would place less pressure on the Frenchman to succeed than a move to Real Madrid.
Secondly – and perhaps more importantly – Pogba’s notorious agent Mino Raiola has poured fuel onto the flames of a potential Juventus return for his client, stating recently that Juve’s fans should dream of the midfielder’s return, because “if you do not dream, then you are dead”.
How much can be read into this is anyone’s guess – Raiola may well have simply been looking to force the hand of another suitor, potentially Real, but the idea of Pogba returning to the Allianz Stadium to hook up with fellow superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely intriguing.
#3 Paris St-Germain
Okay, so there have been no recent links between Pogba and Paris St-Germain, but when a club put a price tag like £150m for a player, there aren’t going to be too many suitors able to afford such a fee – and naturally, PSG are definitely one of them.
So what would attract a player like Pogba to Paris – aside from an undoubtedly huge contract, of course? Well, there was a report late last year that suggested the midfielder had agreed a contract with Thomas Tuchel’s side in the summer – being offered £429,000 per week – only for the deal to fall through when PSG failed to sell Neymar back to Barcelona.
How true that was, we’ll probably never know, but there’s no doubt that the current French champions could easily afford to buy Pogba, and that if he were to go to the Parc Des Princes, he’d be treated like a returning hero; despite never playing for them, he was born in Paris and remains the highest-profile French player in the modern game aside from Kylian Mbappe, who would become his teammate at the club.
PSG have also made no secret of their desire to win the Champions League – they already dominate Ligue 1 with no issues – and adding a midfielder like Pogba to their ranks could help them achieve that goal, even if they have to sell Neymar to make it possible.