UNITED SPECIAL £90m Lemar could be Agent P target
THE transfer window might have closed but Agent P is still active, judging by Paul Pogba’s latest Instagram post.
Pogba, who dubbed himself Agent P after his friend Romelu Lukaku agreed to join United, uploaded a picture of him congratulating goalscorer Thomas Lemar on Thursday night as speculation swirled over the Monaco forward’s future.
Lemar, 21, was wanted by Arsenal and Liverpool but United’s Premier League rivals failed to lure the £90m-rated winger to the Premier League and he is destined to spend another season with the Ligue 1 champions.
And Pogba jokingly suggested he is preparing an approach ahead of the next summer transfer window.
The United midfielder wrote on Instagram: “Happy with yesterday’s result, working for the next goal. Proud of being blue.” He then signed off the caption with the #AgentP hashtag he popularised with a video confirming Lukaku’s switch to United.
Mourinho said last month he wants to sign a player who ‘allows me to play with three at the back and have a wingback’, having previously targeted Inter winger Ivan Perisic.
Left-footed Lemar has shone on both flanks for Monaco and France and could be a starter for Les Bleus at next year’s World Cup finals in Russia.
A year ago, Mourinho tasked Pogba and United’s other France internationals with convincing Antoine Griezmann to join the club. Griezmann would have joined United had the Court of Arbitration for Sport not upheld Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban. ‘FARCENAL,’ ‘You silly Arse’ and ‘Shambles’ were some of the more damning back pages Arsenal supporters woke up to yesterday.
Perhaps the most shambolic aspect about another terrible transfer window for the Gunners was their £90m deadline day bid for Monaco forward Thomas Lemar, which was accepted before they apparently decided there would not be enough time to conclude a deal.
To put it into context, City paid Monaco £44m for Lemar’s team-mate Bernardo Silva less than three months ago.
Lemar scored only one more goal than Silva last season and the duo tallied the same number of assists in Ligue 1, yet Silva was named in the Team of the Year ahead of Lemar.
Arsenal cannot just lament the Neymar deal for inflating Lemar’s valuation, their preparations were as amateurish as Arsene Wenger’s were at Anfield last Sunday.
Bargains are still possible in the transfer window and in an era where Liverpool are knocking back a nine-figure offer for someone who has played 17 Champions League matches in seven years, City have got one in Silva.
United’s transfer strategy over the last two summers has embarrassed their top-six rivals and it is not a coincidence they have resisted deadline day dealings after Jose Mourinho was appointed.
Senior United sources have indicated they did not make a last-ditch attempt to sign Willian from Chelsea and, with the exception of one senior squad member’s efforts to leave, their Thursday was as ‘quiet’ as they suggested it would be.
Mourinho has spent £286m in successive summers and that fee will surge past £300m with the add-ons for Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic – but some of the figures United have forked out already look frugal.
“I am pretty sure next summer some players with only half his quality probably will cost the same money or more,” Mourinho said of Pogba in Ferbruary.