We heard a lot of rumours through the summer but, despite the odd complementary comment from their manager, there was nothing concrete.
But the extremely well informed Guardian has lifted the lid on the ins and outs of the Paul Pogba transfer to state that the Frenchman actually chose Manchester United over Real Madrid.
• Frenchman happy to choose Old Trafford return over Real Madrid move
Pogba’s signing has been described as a watershed moment, being the first time in the modern era that one of the world’s more coveted players has preferred Manchester when an alternative offer was proposed by Madrid,
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane did flutter his proverbial eyelids in the direction of Pogba in the summer when he said:
“Everyone is interested in Pogba. He is a great player and when you are at Madrid, you always want the best. Now we must respect some things — he is a Juve player. Today I can say nothing.”
But there was a feeling all along that if Real Madrid had made a bid commensurate with that of Manchester United’s then the player would have preferred a move to Spain.
But this expose suggests that the player himself chose Manchester United and cites Jose Mourinho’s observation that the player would never be able to become the top player in the world at Real Madrid or Barcelona because of the continued presence of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Jose makes a decent case and, once again, we have to complement the Portuguese for making this deal happen.
It’s inconceivable that the player would have joined Manchester United this summer – a club that won’t compete in The Champions League for at least another year – had the Portuguese not been in charge of the club.
As it is Manchester United have signed two genuine A-listers in Zlatan and Pogba, plus two wonderful talents in Mkhitaryan and Bailly – a wonderful summer’s work.