FIFA PROBE POGBA DEAL
Following Sportsmail revelations of shocking £41m payment to his agent
FIFA announced last night they have launched an investigation into Paul Pogba’s world-record £89.3million transfer from Juventus to Manchester United last summer.
World football’s ruling body have contacted United to ask for clarification about all aspects of the deal, including the extraordinary cut of more than £41m taken by Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola.
Sportsmail created a stir throughout the game yesterday with extracts from Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football, based on the research of Der Spiegel journalists in
Germany. It detailed the massive sums involved in both the Pogba move and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s free transfer.
However, it emerged from FIFA sources that United had been asked to explain the detail of the Pogba transfer some time ago. It is thought that Raiola’s agreement with Juventus for a 50 per cent slice of any future transfer over £40m could breach regulations over third-party ownership.
A United spokesman said last night: ‘We don’t comment on contracts. FIFA have had the documents since the transfer was completed last August.’
All the paperwork has to be logged on the FIFA system and Zurich didn’t flag up any problem at the time. But sources have told Sports
mail that Raiola received such a significant slice of Pogba’s transfer fee — in addition to £16.39m that journalists from Der Spiegel claim he is receiving from United in five instalments — because of a deal he is said to have struck five years ago when his client was little more than a hugely promising teenager.
When Pogba completed his move from United to Juventus on August 3, 2012, the then 19-yearold French midfielder cost the Italian club just £1.5million, having upset Sir Alex Ferguson by refusing to sign a new contract at Old Trafford.
But during the negotiations Raiola is understood to have persuaded the Juve hierarchy to agree to the most incredible contract, one that guaranteed the former waiter 50 per cent of anything over a certain figure — believed to be around £40million — should they sell on Pogba.
Understandably, Juve were not bargaining on Pogba developing into a global superstar capable of commanding a fee in excess of what Real Madrid had paid for Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the same time they also knew that while Raiola would make a phenomenal amount of money, they too would be massively in profit. They were the terms if Juventus wanted the player, and they agreed to them.
But it meant Raiola was already cashing in to the tune of £22.8m, according to the figures quoted in this new book, even before he negotiated his fees with United bosses for bringing his client back to Old Trafford.
As the FA revealed on their website last month, Raiola was named as both the agent acting for United and Pogba. He was not, however, listed as the intermediary for Juventus, even though triple representation is permitted in certain circumstances.
Pogba, the Der Spiegel journalists claim, is to pay Raiola a further £2.2m. United appear to have paid the extra £16.39m to take Raiola’s total cut to that mind-boggling figure of £41.39m for a single transfer.
But it could turn out that what appears to be a sell-on fee paid by Juventus will be a focus for FIFA, whose delegates have gethered in Bahrain for their congress.
Pogba’s salary for this season was £8.6m but will be cut to £7.75m for the 2017- 18 campaign. However, the reduction will be offset by a loyalty bonus of £3.46m. The bonus will increase to £3.78m for the 2018-19 season.
Last night Sportsmail contacted Raiola but he declined to comment. Asked via text message if he would respond to allegations about the Pogba deal by taking a telephone call, he replied ‘no’.
The numbers certainly sparked a reaction in English football. They reveal that from one deal, Raiola earned more than the total sum — £39.9m — spent on players by the 24 clubs in League Two.
‘It’s sickening watching that sort of largesse when I know a huge number of clubs are struggling,’ said Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt, who suggested the broadcasting regulator Ofcom should levy a 10 per cent tax on TV deals and distribute the proceeds down the divisions.
‘If the Premier League aren’t prepared to do it then Ofcom should,’ Holt told Sportsmail.
‘ I don’t meann to just Accrington, butt a lot lower. The grassrootsroots are relying on vol-volunteers to barelyly keep the placee go i n g. The pitches are hopeless.
‘ That cash should not be squandered on ridiculous fees. If you were onlyy giving him £40mm rather than £41.39m, that makesakes Accrington or More-Morecambe solvent. It doesn’t matter how much you give to these big clubs because they’ll just blow it.
‘The money in that Pogba deal is an absolute scandal. It’s madness. They’ve lost all sense of value. I don’t know if anyone — including Manchester United — can justify it.’ Carlisle manager Keith Curle echoed his sentiments, telling Sportsmail : ‘For anybody to take that much from an individual transaction is embarrassing. How much advice can one player get? We have four or five players in our squad who are full-time professionals, striving for an opportunity to be successful, who get paid between £250 and £500 a week.’ The Premier League issued a statement, saying: ‘ The Premier League supports all clubs in the EFL with solidarity payments and provides significant funding for their community projects and youth development schemes — all things that Accrington Stanley benefit from. It is only because of the interest in our competition and in Premier League clubs that we can support Accrington, the wider football pyramid, and communities and schools across the country. We will be writing to Mr Holt to ask him if he wishes the Premier League to continue the support we provide for his and other clubs in the EFL.’