POGBA IMAGE RIGHTS CASH OUT OF TAXMAN’S REACH:
WHAT HE EARNS FROM IMAGE RIGHTS
HOW HE’S BIG NEWS OFF THE PITCH...
Pogba’s return to Old Trafford was heralded by an adidas video of Pogba dancing to a rap by grime artist Stormzy.
In January, Pogba became the first Premier League footballer to have his own Twitter emoji (right). Pogba has a social media following of 24.5 million, while United’s following stands at 101.9 million across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
He has also helped promote Chevrolet, Manchester United’s shirt sponsor. On the day of his medical, Pogba was driven to United’s Carrington training ground in a Chevrolet Camaro and he has since appeared with his team-mates in the car manufacturers’ ‘Prank Wars’ videos.
AND WHAT’S OFF LIMITS
The ‘Paul Pogba’ trademark prevents people from profiting from his name in more than 200 different ways — which include Paul Pogbabranded skis, fishing rods, parasols, beer and Christmas tree decorations!
PAUL POGBA and his agent Mino Raiola have put millions of pounds of commercial rights revenue into a tax-free offshore account. New book Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football confirms that the £2.87million Pogba earns in commercial and image rights at Manchester United is paid into Aftermath Ltd, a company set up by Raiola in Jersey. Pogba’s name and image were registered as international trademarks to the company in July 2016. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Pogba or Raiola, and it is understood the player does not have to file his tax return until January 31 next year. Raiola set up the company in St Helier, Jersey, in February 2016 after paying £8.4m to extricate Pogba from a similar deal with his former advisors. The France midfielder had signed that agreement with Oualid Tanazefti, the scout who spotted him for Le Havre in 2006, and his business associate Ylli Kullashi. Koyot Group, based in Luxembourg, was set up to register Pogba’s growing brand and avoid paying tax. The terms of the deal stated Pogba would receive 70 per cent of all image rights, with 30 per cent going to his two advisors. However, Pogba would not have had access to his earnings for 15 years and Tanazefti and Kullashi would have been able to sell his commercial rights to other businesses in future. A fallout over the deal led to Pogba splitting from Tanazefti and putting all his business affairs in the hands of Raiola, who tried to get the contract annulled in the courts but finally ended a bitter wrangle by paying Tanazefti £5m and Kullashi £3.35m last year. Football Leaks claims that the stalemate was one of the reasons Pogba did not leave Juventus in the summer of 2015, because the clubs interested in signing him wanted more control over his commercial rights. The Pogba brand passed from Koyot Group to Blue Brands, a company set up in the Republic of Ireland listing Raiola’s son Vincenzo as a director, before being transferred to Aftermath Ltd in March 2016. Pogba’s commercial rights were registered with Aftermath a month before he signed a new sponsorship deal with adidas worth £33.5m. Raiola earned £8.4m over the course of Pogba’s spell at Juve — almost as much as the player himself — before banking £41.39m from the move to Old Trafford.