Paul Pogba

[Sepuldinho]

100M? Fck no!

 

[Jair Ventura]

Juventus already feel Paul Pogba will leave this summer. The player has asked to be transferred and Juve, as AS has been told, have priced him up at €100m (he arrived in Turin from Manchester United on a free transfer). There are three teams that have already spoken with the Italian team – they are Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, and, in recent days, Barcelona.

PSG have no problems with paying €100m to recruit the French star and bring him back to his homeland. City cannot meet that fee, and Juve are looking for a player to include in the deal to make up the rest of the price (City, until recently, was Pogba’s preferred option). Juve like Yaya Touré, but he earns €9m a year and the highest salary at Juventus is €4.5m (Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon and Pogba earn this amount).

At Barça, the club’s international sporting director Ariedo Braida has already met with Mino Raiola, the player’s agent. As the Catalan club are not allowed to sign any players this summer (due to a FIFA transfer ban), they would leave him in Turin on loan for one season but with his new salary. To avoid forking out the full €100m, they could offer Pedro or Martín Montoya in return as part of the deal.

Real Madrid were interested in Pogba (it was his dream to wear the white shirt) a few months ago. But when the club’s CEO José Ángel Sánchez (after learning from Raiola) informed president Florentino Pérez of the price (€100m), they began to forget about a deal. The Juve board then learned what Pérez said about the player’s private life to justify his lack of interest. They hallucinated. “Until a year ago he lived with his mum, he does not go out at night and yes, he is very religious”. Only Zinedine Zidane, who was seen with Raiola at a hotel in Turin, seems to back his compatriot’s move to the Bernabéu. He even received a message from Pogba: “Help me go to Madrid.”

http://as.com/diarioas/2015/05/11/english/1431343305_984408.html

 

[Hamzah]

Why would he go to a worse club in a worse league? Barca is a step up at least.

 

[Jair Ventura]

Thought this was interesting. Betting odds in Turin for who lands Pogba:

Given the advance of Sheikh Mansour, betting on the next team of French: City has increased from 6.50 to 4.50, and is now first on par with PSG (but rose from 3.50 to 4.50) and Real Madrid. Barcelona also insists on the player, but for now it is a step backward, to 5.00, in the company of Chelsea and Manchester United.

http://www.tuttosport.com/scommesse/2015/05/11-330839/Calciomercato:+Pogba,+il+CIty+si+fa+avanti

Why would he go to a worse club in a worse league? Barca is a step up at least.

Seems your theory may shatter before you.

 

[Hamzah]

The Torino betting scene is run by the mafia, such high odds for Barça is absurd, the same as chelsea and man u? You're having a laugh.

 

[barcaboy15]

The Torino betting scene is run by the mafia, such high odds for Barça is absurd, the same as chelsea and man u? You're having a laugh.

Pretty sure those are referencing the odds offered by Paddy Power, who certainly aren't run by mafia.

They currently have Man City, PSG and RM as joint favourites at 4.5 with Barcelona, Chelsea and Man Utd at 5.0

 

[bungsalman]

is he really a player we need?
i think we still have La Masia / Barca B player like Sergi roberto, Deulofeu, Denis Suarez, Halilovic, etc.. I still remember a huge expectation when we recruit Alen.

 

[CatalinR10]

is he really a player we need?
i think we still have La Masia / Barca B player like Sergi roberto, Deulofeu, Denis Suarez, Halilovic, etc.. I still remember a huge expectation when we recruit Alen.

So ?

U can't rely on those players to win you trophies.

 

[antonnn]

Chelsea and Barca won't sign him. United might try but whether or not it'll actually happen, probably not. PSG and City are by far the most likely. They both have FFP sanctions though so it might be difficult for them to sign him this summer.

 

[dakt]

What if it was Kovacic?

Kovacic is worth nowhere near 100, but for Rakitic's price tag he would be excellent purchase for the future. His style of play would fit ours and could grow to be world class midfielder in 2-3 years, maybe even sooner.
On the other hand I don't have anything against Pogba, it's just that his price is blown out of proportions because there's a lack of world class midfielders on the market and Pogba is "the only" potential WC player in that aspect.
Nevertheless, 100 million for a potential is a huge gamble. Same as it was last year when David Louis was in question. We went for cheaper options and managed to make most successful defense in la liga...probably in all top 5 leagues.
We can apply the same model for midfield.

 

[Jair Ventura]

Chelsea and Barca won't sign him. United might try but whether or not it'll actually happen, probably not. PSG and City are by far the most likely. They both have FFP sanctions though so it might be difficult for them to sign him this summer.

Speaking of United:

“He seems very happy at Juventus, I know he is focused on finishing the season with a lot ofsuccess. Whatever the future is for him I don’t see it being Manchester United.

“He didn’t feel he was treated well there. I know that was under Sir Alex Ferguson and now there is a new coach, but I do not seeing him returning to a club where he was not treated well.”

Pirlo added that he couldn’t believe Pogba’s qualities when he arrived in Turin.

“When he arrived, we didn’t really know that much about him as a player, but it soon became clear how special he was,” he told The Daily Mail.

“I remember the players were almost in disbelief. We couldn’t believe a club like Manchester United had let a player this good go. He has become the best young central midfield player in Europe, I am sure they regret it every day.

“Sir Alex Ferguson had so much success as Manchester United manager and made very few bad decisions, but letting Pogba leave was one of them.”

http://www.foxsports.com.au/footbal...d-go-rumour-mill/story-e6frf4a3-1227351732063

 

[BenRobbins]

Yeah we won't sign him. It would be too embarrassing to have let him go for free and then sign him back for 100 million, the glazers wouldn't allow it.

He also wouldn't come back and i doubt the club would want him after the whole falling out with Fergie.

He will stay in Turin for one more year. Going to the bookies to put money on it now.

 

[bungsalman]

So ?

U can't rely on those players to win you trophies.

you cant buy a player who has a insane price too.
i think we need a player like Rakitic. only 18 M + Dennis Suarez, but we got much than it.

 

[ZenI]

"just back" lol. That injury thing plus him being allegedly much worse than pre-injury is the lamest argument ever. It's the same thing as making him the only one responsible for Dortmund's downfall, ignoring the fact that his teammates have changed over the years, from prime Hummels, Subotic, Lewandowski, Reus and Götze to the likes of Ginter, shit Hummels, Mkhitaryan, Immobile and Kampl. That makes a huge difference, especially at Dortmund; a team, where the whole was indeed much greater than the sum of its parts and played the best collective counterpressing in world football. Now? Long balls to Aubameyang to chase it.

Even prime Xavi couldn't do much with these scrubs. He, like Gündogan, makes his teammates better, but when they're shit already there's not much to improve. A team player suffers when others are bad and Ilkay is without doubt one. Shame most people just repeat things they hear from somewhere before making their own judgement. Doubt many here who like to throw in dem phrases watched more than 1 game.

Add to that there are plenty of other players I would prefer ahead of Pogba. Iniesta is not fully done anyway and benching Rakitic after a (potential) treble season would be harsh too.

Then again many people here would take the Alcuntara back who is even more "just back" from injury. Hypocrisy everywhere.

While I agree with your analysis of Dortmund and Ilkay, I also have to argue that it is exactly why its also a risk signing him. You could very well be right Ilkay can't do it alone, that the players/tactics have gone downhill, but we can't really prove that Ilkay has what it takes after the injury because we haven't seen him in a functioning team with better players - and we all know some players never recover from their injury, they loose something (be it a psychological block or whatever). Ilkay would be a complicated transfer and a risk; would he accept being a rotation player? Should we take a risk that he will come through and put our eggs in one basket? etc etc etc.

 

[DrPepper]

While I agree with your analysis of Dortmund and Ilkay, I also have to argue that it is exactly why its also a risk signing him. You could very well be right Ilkay can't do it alone, that the players/tactics have gone downhill, but we can't really prove that Ilkay has what it takes after the injury because we haven't seen him in a functioning team with better players - and we all know some players never recover from their injury, they loose something (be it a psychological block or whatever). Ilkay would be a complicated transfer and a risk; would he accept being a rotation player? Should we take a risk that he will come through and put our eggs in one basket? etc etc etc.

Yeah that might be true, which is why I wanted an additional player alongside him anyway. Like Kovacic, Tielemans or O. Torres. Just imagine, for 100M that we're likely to spend on Pogba alone, we could as well buy Gündogan and O. Torres / Kovacic / Tielemans and still have 50M to spare for a Dani Alves replacement and a CB.

Well, and paying 20M for a player who might never be more than a squad player is still better than paying 100M for a player who won't even play in the Champions League for us next year.

Rakitic's signing has shown we don't need hollywood players and imo that's the way to go.