Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United face dressing room backlash after making Paul Pogba contract offer despite poor form
According to the Mirror, Manchester United are set to face a backlash from their players after the club offered a massive contract proposal to midfielder Paul Pogba, despite the star’s poor form and apparent intention to depart.
The Frenchman is out of contract in the summer, and thus far, neither club nor player has provided any update on his contract situation. Into the last six months of the current deal, the 29-year-old is allowed to speak to foreign clubs regarding signing a pre-contract agreement, well before the end of the season.
Having left the Manchester side as a free agent once before in 2012, there seems to be a case of deja vu with regards to Pogba’s situation this summer. He had left for Juventus on a Bosman transfer, going on to win four consecutive Scudetto titles in Italy and making it to the UEFA Champions League final in 2015.
With the intention of holding on to the midfielder this time around, the Red Devils have offered a new deal worth £500,000-a-week to the player, which he has refused. United are now said to be weighing up a new contract for Pogba with a basic salary of £400,000-a-week, with add-ons potentially taking it up to the half-a-million mark.
“It’s out of order”
However, the club’s attempts to convince the World Cup winner to stay with their massive offer has caused fury within the dressing room as players have vented their frustrations at the Manchester side for their intentions to make him the highest-paid player in the country.
A source from within the club has said that the other players do not feel Pogba is worthy of getting nearly double of what he is offered, given he hardly starts a game and constantly talks about leaving the English giants.
“Some of the players think it’s out of order he could be getting twice as much as they’re when he hardly starts a game and talks about leaving all the time.”
Clearly, there seem to be problems for the Red Devils to tackle both on and off the field this season. On the field, they are sitting in seventh position in the league table and are in danger of missing out on qualifying for the Champions League next term.
They are also winless in April and unable to shake off their recent poor form, which sees them sit six points away from Tottenham Hotspur in the hotly contested fourth place. Aside from Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham United also provide competition to United for a finish in the top four.
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Off the field, the dressing room source has predicted mutiny among the players if Pogba accepts the club’s new and revised offer and remains at Old Trafford. The other stars would demand the same parity in wages, especially those that play more games than the France international and contribute more to the team on the pitch.
We can empathise with the other United players on this issue, as it seems to be unfair to prioritise one player over the rest, especially when he has been non-committal to the club. Pogba has been largely underwhelming for us since his return from Serie A, and questions need to be asked as to why we need to reward such a player.
