£140m FOR POGBA
That’s what United want if troubled star leaves
MANCHESTER UNITED will demand up to £140million for Paul Pogba if he leaves Old Trafford this summer.
Sportsmail revealed this week that Jose Mourinho is prepared to sell Pogba after his relationship with the France midfielder reached breaking point.
The club’s hierarchy are reluctant to sanction the move, two years after paying Juventus a then world record fee of £89m to re-sign Pogba.
They hope Mourinho and Pogba can resolve their differences, but the pair have hardly spoken this week, with the
PAUL POGBA’S falling- out with Jose Mourinho bears all the hallmarks of David Beckham’s feud with Sir Alex Ferguson that led to Manchester United selling the England superstar.
Old Trafford insiders can see similarities between Beckham and Pogba after cracks emerged in the Frenchman’s relationship with his manager over recent months. Mourinho has hardly spoken to Pogba since substituting him during Sunday’s defeat by West Bromwich Albion.
United’s £89million record signing was replaced again despite an improved performance at Bournemouth on Wednesday, but even then the tension between the pair was evident as a stony-faced Mourinho motioned for Pogba to sit behind him in the dugout. The player briefly headed for the tunnel before doing as he was told.
Privately, Mourinho (below) is still fuming that Pogba could produce a man-of-the-match performance at Bournemouth and in the Manchester derby and yet be so poor against the Premier League’s bottom club West Brom.
It is a feeling shared among his coaching staff and some of the players, and one alluded to by former United favourite Paul Scholes on BT Sport.
‘When you see a performance like that from him, you almost feel like he’s thought, “I don’t care what the manager thinks of my performance today, I’m not going to listen to him. I’m just going to go out and play my game”,’ said Scholes. ‘I think that’s disrespectful towards the manager and his team-mates.’
Those who know Pogba say it is typical of a young man who does not take criticism well.
Asked if he thinks the former Juventus midfielder could leave this summer, Scholes replied: ‘I think he could. From the outside looking in, it looks like the relationship isn’t great.’
Scholes witnessed Ferguson’s falling-out with Beckham and this is another clash of egos between two strong characters accustomed to getting their own way.
The relationship between Ferguson and Beckham deteriorated in the years after the player married Spice Girl Victoria Adams. The United boss was concerned that Beckham had become distracted by his celebrity lifestyle and he was sold to Real Madrid in 2003.
In Pogba’s case, it is a penchant for being noticed — the incessant boisterous behaviour, crazy hairstyles, dance moves, elaborate handshake routines and excessive social media presence. Some members of his entourage have also made themselves unpopular.
Sources describe an individual who likes to be heard above the rest of the squad and constantly seeks their attention. Pogba sits at the back of the upper deck of the team bus making a racket while Mourinho and his coaching staff mutter among themselves down below.
‘He’s been acting like a petulant child,’ said the source. ‘Jose can’t be doing with someone who is always seeking the spotlight and not focusing on their football. You can see he’s getting p****d off with it.
‘There are definitely similarities with Beckham and Sir Alex in the clash of egos and the manager being unhappy with all the other stuff. Jose would sell him, but the club won’t allow it.
‘He’s given most of the players the cold shoulder since Sunday, but there’s more tension with Pogba. How can you play like that against Man City and then how he did in the West Brom game?’
Pogba has become an isolated figure as senior players, tired of his antics, have distanced themselves from him. Some are said to be relieved he will miss the tour of the United States this summer because he will be at the World Cup with France. The 25-year-old still has a clique of friends — Anthony Martial, Marouane Fellaini and Joel Pereira — and usually sits with them at meal times.
But it has been noted that other players who were close to him — Romelu Lukaku and, to a lesser extent, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford — have been more circumspect, conscious of the manager’s disapproval. Even the bond with Zlatan Ibrahimovic was said to have been less strong before the Swede left Old Trafford.
The source said: ‘Paul would say stuff like, “Praise be to God”. Zlatan would mimic him by holding out his arms and saying, “You’ll need more than God to help you!” The players laughed but the thought was he needed to do more for himself.’
The feeling among the coaching staff and many players is that he remains a world-class talent who is not performing consistently at the level he can; a young man who believes he has made it. It is a mindset that could end in tears.
As Beckham discovered, nobody is bigger than United or their manager.