Manchester United transfer news: Jose Mourinho wants early conclusion to Paul Pogba pursuit James Ducker
7 JULY 2016 • 8:44PM
Jose Mourinho does not want Manchester United’s pursuit of Paul Pogba to drag on beyond the Community Shield against Leicester City at Wembley on Aug 7, effectively giving the club a month to try to wrap up a world record £90 million plus deal for the France midfielder.The United manager has made it clear, publicly and privately, that he has no intention of allowing the club to be backed into a corner on a frantic transfer deadline day scramble, a scenario that happened in each of the past three summers under his predecessors, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes.
Having already completed deals for striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and defender Eric Bailly, Mourinho has now set his sights on bringing Pogba back to Old Trafford four years after the Frenchman’s acrimonious departure for Juventus.
If a deal cannot be agreed for Pogba within a reasonable timeframe, Mourinho will switch attention to his back-up plan, with the Portuguese eager to bring in a midfielder as soon as possible. “We are not going to get the fourth [signing] on the 31st of August, no way, we will get the fourth before that and then we are stable but the market will be open,” Mourinho had insisted on Tuesday.United, though, remain optimistic about their chances of landing Pogba.
Mino Raiola, Pogba’s agent who also represents Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan, is expected to present an offer to Juventus next week once the European Championship finals are over, with United willing to smash the world transfer record fee of £85.3 million that Real Madrid paid to sign Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 to land the midfielder.
Real provide the main competition to United and the Spanish giants – who have a history of getting their man - believe Pogba favours a move to the Bernabeu. The 23-year-old is thought to have spoken with his compatriot Zinedine Zidane, the Real coach, and would prefer Madrid over a return to Manchester.
But Real – so often football’s most lavish spenders -
are facing an unusual scenario in that they fear being priced out of a deal by United who, in their determination to deliver for Mourinho and not be embarrassed once again in a familiar hunt for a superstar, will make an offer that proves impossible for Juventus to refuse.
Once performance-related bonuses and agent fees are factored in, it would be no surprise if Pogba became the world’s first £100 million footballer. United are also willing to pay him wages of £190,000 a week after tax.
Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, is thought to have been happy for Raiola to take the initial lead on negotiations with Juventus for Pogba. Woodward was in Monaco with Raiola on Tuesday to tie up the Mkhitaryan transfer and the 48-year-old Italian-born agent, who grew up in Holland, has emerged as something of a kingmaker in the transfer market this summer for United, from whom he will earn huge sums in commission.
Nonetheless, Raiola has a strong relationship with Mourinho and is thought to have recommended the Pogba move to United. United’s signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea in January 2014 involved no direct contact between the clubs, with Woodward instead using Mata’s father, Juan senior, and Colin Pomford, a Madrid-based agent, to broker a deal.
United’s hierarchy are expected to hold formal discussions with Juventus but Raiola – who has extensive experience of working with Italy’s elite clubs, especially AC Milan – is taking the lead for now.Mourinho has appointed six trusted lieutenants to his backroom staff, with assistant manager Rui Faria joined by coaches Silvino Louro, Ricardo Formosinho, Carlos Lalin and Emilio Alvarez and analyst Giovanni Cerra.
The former Chelsea manager took charge of his first pre-season training session on Thursday and expects United’s players to grasp his demands quickly. “My principles are quite objective and I understand that, for the players, it will not be a drama for them to understand and to try to give me what I want,” he said.
United, meanwhile, are still deliberating over whether to enter a team made up mostly of Under-21 players into the EFL Trophy under new plans by the Football League to invite 15 Premier Leagues sides, plus Newcastle United, into the reformatted competition.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/07/manchester-united-transfer-news-jose-mourinho-wants-early-conclu/
