WAR IS OVER - UNITED & POGBA AGENT IN TRUCE

UNITED, LIVERPOOL AND CHELSEA COULD SCALE BACK SPENDING AS THEY FEAR PUBLIC BACKLASH

MANCHESTER UNITED, Liverpool and Chelsea are among a number of top Premier League clubs who could scale back their transfer window spending in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Top officials at some of major English football clubs believe there could be a public backlash at spending what may be viewed as obscene amounts on new players when the next transfer window eventually opens.

And that could scupper United’s intended pursuit of £120million-rated Borussia Dortmund and England winger Jadon Sancho, who turns 20 on Wednesday.

Old Trafford boss

Ole Gunnar

Solskjaer (right) identified Sancho as having the right DNA for

United months ago and the club have been working on plans to try to make a deal happen.

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, a former Dortmund manager, and Chelsea boss Frank Lampard also have Sancho on their radar but the Coronavirus pandemic is forcing clubs to look at the bigger picture.

With world economies devastated by Covid-19, thousands of deaths from the disease and ordinary football fans facing huge financial problems caused by the health crisis, football will be under intense scrutiny when the sport resumes.

United, Liverpool and Chelsea are among a host of clubs sensitive to the hardships of their staff and supporters.

And conversations are believed to have already started as to how it will be perceived if clubs emerge from the crisis and immediately begin paying enormous transfer fees.

One club administrator told MirrorSport: “It won’t be a good look. Paying over £100m for a player when the world emerges from the Covid-19 crisis would seem to be inviting trouble.

“You can be certain clubs will be treading cautiously.

“We could even see this being the moment that the transfer market is recalibrated with many in football believing it’s lost all sense of reality in the last few years.

“Players’ salaries in the future may also come under review by some clubs as we count the cost of an unprecedented shutdown of the sport.”

Solskjaer had hoped to sign three players costing up to £200m.

Rivals Manchester City were also planning a £150m overhaul after falling 25 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool.

Klopp has already held talks with his Fenway Sports Group bosses in Boston on a transfer war-chest as he attempts to make sure Liverpool’s Premier League dominance is no one-season wonder.

As well as Sancho, Klopp has been tracking RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who has a £50m release clause, as well as Bayer Leverkusen’s £90m-rated midfielder Kai Havertz.

But those kind of figures could lead to trouble – with the football world predicted to be a different place after coronavirus.

PAUL POGBA’S controversial agent Mino Raiola and Manchester United chief Ed Woodward are talking again.

Woodward, Old Trafford’s executive vicechairman, and super-agent Raiola severed contact after Pogba’s aggressive Italian-born adviser made repeated attacks on United at the turn of the year.

Contact between the pair was broken for a while after Raiola claimed United were “out of touch with reality and without a sporting project”. He then went on to blast: “I wouldn’t take anyone there – they would even ruin Maradona, Pele and Maldini.”

And just moments before United kicked off their 2-0 victory at Chelsea last month, Raiola launched a Twitter attack after manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insisted the club would decide Pogba’s future, not his agent.

Raiola (right) said: “You cannot own a human being for a long time in the UK or anywhere else. I hope Solskjaer does not want to suggest that Paul is his prisoner.”

But it’s now thought a peace pact has been struck.

Woodward appreciated

Raiola’s support when his house was attacked by so-called United supporters wearing balaclavas and carrying flares. French World Cup winner Pogba also intervened, asking his controversial agent to be less confrontational.

But the truce is uneasy. Raiola insists United agreed to consider selling the midfield star last summer. And he now wants them to agree to sell him to Real Madrid, with Bernabeu boss Zinedine Zidane desperate to sign him.

United say they won’t have a gun held to their head by Raiola and will do what is in the best interests of the team and the club.

Pogba is now thought to have fully recovered from the ankle injury which needed surgery at the start of the year. And, before the coronavirus pandemic shut down football, he was on the brink of a return to training with the first team.

Solskjaer still insists he wants a fully fit Pogba in his team next season and is excited at the prospect of new signing Bruno Fernandes teaming up with the Frenchman. But that’s at odds with Raiola’s plans for Pogba.

And that could bring a swift end to the truce between Raiola and Woodward if, when football returns, United demand that the midfielder stays next season.