Real Madrid leading the race to sign Paul Pogba
For more than a year, Barcelona players and executives have been attempting to convince Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba to join their formidable side in Catalonia, thus creating perhaps the most dominant squad in soccer history. European opponents are already dealing with the reality of neutralizing Barcelona’s attacking trident of Messi, […]
For more than a year, Barcelona players and executives have been attempting to convince Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba to join their formidable side in Catalonia, thus creating perhaps the most dominant squad in soccer history.
European opponents are already dealing with the reality of neutralizing Barcelona’s attacking trident of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. Now, imagine throwing Pogba into that mix.
Speculation surrounding the France international’s future in Turin has refused to die down, despite the player signing a contract extension with Juventus last season, which binds him to the Italian champions until 2019.
In January 2015, Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola (who is never at a loss for words) informed the media that his client will leave Juventus “this year or the next” – albeit to the highest bidder.
It is understood that the club is resigned to losing the player, and has him valued between €100-110 million.
Under their current structure, Barcelona are unable to sign Pogba due to the fact that the Catalan club already has the mega-money contracts of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez on their payroll.
Last summer, Barcelona’s top executives met with Pogba’s representative and Juventus officials in order to hash out a deal. However, both sides were unable to come to an agreement .
Real Madrid are now in the driver’s seat have the clear advantage towards landing the talented France international.
Club president Florentino Perez has made signing Pogba his number one goal for next summer, and has re-opened the doors of communication with the player’s representative.
Last year, amidst a flurry of transfer speculation, former Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti discarded Pogba as a potential signing. This led to the player’s representative defiantly stating: “We don’t want to sign with a team like Real Madrid either. They treat players like they were towels; they use them and thrown away.”
But with Ancelotti out of the picture and Zinedine Zidane in charge of the team, the air has been cleared and tensions have lifted between the two sides.
Zidane has always spoken glowingly of the young France international. The legendary figure believes Pogba holds many of the traits he possessed as a player – minus the physicality.
The newly-signed Real Madrid boss is now awaiting the opportunity to make his final sales pitch to Pogba and his representative.
Florentino Perez is already prepared to meet Juventus’ valuation of the player and, despite his desire to suit up alongside Lionel Messi, Pogba is now resigned to the fact that a deal cannot be brokered with Barcelona.
