Pranav Nair
Juventus offered two players in exchange for Paul Pogba
Speaking on the Here We Go podcast (h/t The Express), transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Juventus were keen on signing Manchester United star Paul Pogba in the summer transfer window.
Pogba was on United’s rolls before moving to Juventus as a teenager in 2012. The French international spent four years in Turin with the Serie A giants before returning to Old Trafford in 2016.
Despite showing much promise, his return has been more of a hit and miss. Pogba’s struggles have continued into the current campaign, with him failing to impress under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
According to the report, United could have cashed in on him in the summer. Juventus’ offer would have seen Miralem Pjanic and Douglas Costa make the move to the Theatre of Dreams. United, however, turned it down.
“Juventus offered Pjanic and Douglas Costa to Manchester United for Paul Pogba to start talks, Manchester United turned it down.”
Pogba, despite his struggles at United, remains a game-changing world-class star for France. He appears to be a poor fit at Old Trafford and can resurrect his career elsewhere.
Better off rejecting!
While Pjanic and Costa are not bad players, they do not hold a candle to Pogba. The former is ageing and eventually ended up at Barcelona while the latter has a number of injury concerns.
It is difficult to see what either of them could have brought to United. Perhaps it was for the best that we rejected the offer.
Romano goes on to add that Juventus remain keen on landing Pogba. A deal in January however could prove problematic. The Italians will need to sell before they can buy and United will be keen to get top dollar.
“It’s difficult to sign Pogba in January, Juventus will need to sell players and Manchester United will want the full asking price.”
Juventus’ chances of landing the United star depend on them either proposing a better swap deal or coming up with the cash needed. Failing either, Pogba will not be allowed to move to Turin.
“If Juve don’t sell any players or swap deals doesn’t work, simply they can’t get Pogba.”
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Pogba’s contract at United runs out in the summer of 2022. This means we have two windows to realistically get a good price for him. A failure to do so can see him reach a pre-agreement to leave for free in 2022.
Given what we have invested in him and his standing in the game, it would be foolish on our part to let it drag out for that long.
