Manchester United are still hopeful of enticing Paul Pogba of returning to Old Trafford this summer, according to The Guardian.
However, they will have to battle Real Madrid for the Frenchman’s signature, with both clubs prepared to bid in excess of Juventus’ valuation of €100 million (£84 million) to secure the 23-year-old’s services.
If United can outbid the European champions for Pogba and meet his wage demands of £250,000-a-week, José Mourinho will still have to convince the central midfielder that his future lies at the Theatre of Dreams, as the French international’s preference is to play at the Bernabeu next season.
Mourinho also hopes that the presence of Mino Raiola as Pogba’s agent will help sway him into agreeing a move to United. Raiola has already helped the Portuguese manager seal the deal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, while another Raiola client, Henrik Mkhitaryan, is also set to join United from Borussia Dortmund in the next couple of days.
Pogba, who scored in France’s comprehensive Euro 2016 quarter-final victory over Iceland on Sunday, left United in controversial circumstances in 2012. He let his contract run down after his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson soured and eventually signed for Juventus on a free transfer.
Ferguson believed Raiola played a key part in Pogba’s departure. In his book Leading, he wrote:
There are one or two football agents I simply do not like and Mino Raiola, Paul Pogba’s agent, is one of them.
I distrusted him from the moment I met him. We had Paul under a three-year contract, and it had a one-year renewal option which we were eager to sign. But Raiola suddenly appeared on the scene and our first meeting was a fiasco.
He and I were like oil and water. From then on our goose was cooked because Raiola had been able to ingratiate himself with Paul and his family and the player signed with Juventus.
