Most of you avid Manchester United fans will have read the comments of Paul Scholes pertaining to the potential purchase of Paul Pogba.
We have regularly agreed with Scholes in the past – particularly with his assessment of Manchester United’s deficiencies under previous manager Louis van Gaal – and he is refreshing in his ruthlessness.
But TFF can’t help thinking that he has missed the point on the Paul Pogba transfer. Just to refresh your memories, here is what he said:
“I just don’t think he is worth £86m. For that sort of money, you want someone who is going to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere worth that kind of money yet.”
It is of course a ludicrous amount of money. But you can go through a whole catalogue of recent transfers and say the same thing. Christian Benteke will likely move for around £25m this summer. Juventus have just triggered the £79m release clause of a player who will be 29 in December.
The fact is that the money swilling around in the football industry is ridiculous. Even bankers don’t get paid this much money and the fees in football are scarcely credible.
So to pinpoint to the price of Pogba is missing the point.
The real point is whether Pogba will noticeably improve the Manchester United midfield. Even Scholes would surely give a resounding ‘yes’ to that question.
At 23, he will either play at the top level for Manchester United for 10 years – in which time the club would normally have to buy two or three players to fill such an important role – or he will be sold on for at least half of the price the club are paying. Which means that, in effect, he is only costing about half of that fee.
Manchester United have struggled to sign top players over the last 5 years. This summer they have signed one already in Zlatan and if they bring Pogba in they have to be hugely happy with their summer in the market.
At the end of the day, United can afford Pogba and he will bring the club and the brand success at a time when there is a dearth of top talent available – end of story.