Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United want to keep midfielder Paul Pogba but are waiting on appointing a new manager first
According to football journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, via wettfreunde (h/t The Sun), Manchester United are keen to keep midfielder Paul Pogba, with the player currently into the last few months of his current deal with the club.
As things stand, the Frenchman is set to depart Old Trafford in the summer on a free transfer as his contract expires at the end of the season. Thus far, neither the club nor the player has given any update about his contract situation.
Di Marzio however, said that the Manchester side are keen to keep their academy product for a few more years, and are waiting to appoint their next permanent manager before they take a final decision on Pogba, with the possibility that the new boss wants to make the midfielder part of his new project.
“I know that Manchester United would like to keep him. They are waiting for the decision to be made on a new manager before they make a final decision. Maybe the new coach wants him to be the centre of the new project.”
The France international is free to talk to foreign clubs regarding a pre-contract agreement, given that he is into the final six months of his current deal. Given this, clubs like Juventus, Paris-Saint Germain, Real Madrid, and Barcelona are monitoring the player’s situation.
“Judge him on the pitch”
Things between Pogba and United looked to turn sour during the international break when the World Cup winner suggested that he wasted his five years at Old Trafford and that the current season was ‘dead’. despite a top-four finish in the Premier League still being within their grasp.
Interim manager Ralf Rangnick responded to these claims, preferring to sidestep the allegation altogether but instead focused on Pogba’s complaint about positional changes, saying it was necessary because of injuries to other players.
“It’s more important to judge him on the pitch. I heard he said he had played in different positions in the last couple of weeks. And on top of that Paul was still injured himself, along with Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay, so you have to play in a different role sometimes. This is normal.”
Pogba has had a mixed time at Old Trafford during his second spell with the Premier League side, unable to recreate the kind of performances he had had at Juventus and with the France national team. He had initially left for Juve as a free agent in 2012 before he re-signed for the Red Devils in 2016.
The fact that he has only won the League Cup and UEFA Europa League after returning to England has not helped, given that he helped the Bianconeri win four consecutive Scudetto titles and also made the final of the Champions League in 2015.
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His explosive comments during the international break are sure to have angered Man United fans, especially after he said he had wasted his time at the club over the past five years. It will be interesting to see how the Old Trafford crowd greets him tomorrow if he takes to the pitch against Leicester City.
