so when pogba plays a match, he's useless according to ratcafé and utd twitter, but when he is about to be sold, he's worth gazillions
premfaces never disappoint, i'm dying 
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so when pogba plays a match, he's useless according to ratcafé and utd twitter, but when he is about to be sold, he's worth gazillions
premfaces never disappoint, i'm dying Buy on AliExpress.com
so when pogba plays a match, he's useless according to ratcafé and utd twitter, but when he is about to be sold, he's worth gazillions
premfaces never disappoint, i'm dying
De ligt + demiral = one maguire, maybe
But they would never be on board with that.
Lord maguire is life.
wall of text but a somewhat interesting read from The Athletic on Pogba
The day Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United, there was sunshine in the skies and warmth in his words. “Paul was absolutely charming,” says someone who was at Carrington as Pogba walked the corridors, hugging those whom he recognised from his last time at the complex four years previously.
Pogba remembered the names of people he had met when at United’s academy and gave the genuine impression he was delighted to be back.
It was the Monday after United lifted the Community Shield in August 2016 and, as whispers grew about a world-record signing, the club’s indoor training pitch was a hive of activity. Dotted across the synthetic turf were various stations of in-house media for Pogba to complete, while he and everyone else awaited the results of his medical.
A camera crew from Mob Film, a company hired by United, were there to capture footage for two announcement videos that marked a new direction for the club — and football in general.
For one, there was dim lighting, steam rising, and at the end Pogba lowering his hood to declare, “I’m back.” In the other, Pogba danced to the lyrics of rapper Stormzy in a sequence of sharp cutaways suited to MTV. These were the ideas of Ed Woodward.
“Ed had wanted to do something different to the usual scarf holding,” says a source. “Given the amount of money invested, the typical signing stuff was seen as formulaic and old fashioned.”
The storyboards had been developed the week before, with all staff signing non-disclosure agreements, and when the cameras rolled, United’s commercial chief Richard Arnold was in attendance to oversee production. So too Mino Raiola, dressed casually as ever in an open-necked polo shirt, and his business partner Rafaela Pimenta.
After waiting into the evening and beyond midnight for the final touches, United announced Pogba’s arrival at 12.45am with a tweet that read: “Home #POGBACK”. There was no hiding from the fact this was an expensive return and United made a conscious decision to “tackle head-on” the issue of paying £89 million for a player they had let go for next to nothing. A source says: “It was, ‘Yeah, so what? That’s the way the market is’.”
There was one small issue. Nearly all the photos taken had Pogba looking sullen. “Great shot for an art director maybe,” adds the source. “But what are you communicating to the fans?”
Pogba’s smile spread wide as he chatted to people in between shots, but in front of the lens, he was asked to pull a moody face, and when the images came back, there were only a couple that reflected his happiness. United made sure to release both and, as it happened, every newspaper picked at least one of them. Perhaps, though, the stylised brooding was a sign of things to come.
It has been four and a half years of unfulfilled hope and this is a piece that will explore the key issues, including:
“There’s no use ignoring it. It’s better to speak honestly,” Raiola told Tuttosport in quotes published on Tuesday. “Paul is unhappy at Manchester United. He can no longer express himself as he wants to or in the way that’s expected of him. I can say that it’s over for Paul Pogba at Manchester United.”
The first part of Raiola’s inflammatory interview dropped at 3.30pm on the eve of United’s biggest game of the season, a couple of hours after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Harry Maguire had conducted a press conference projecting a way past RB Leipzig.
Instead, talk around the team hotel turned to Pogba’s intentions. “It dominates all the conversations,” says an insider. “When they finish their meetings, ‘Is that right Paul?’ That’s the atmosphere in the dressing room, for sure.”
Some sources said team-mates felt disrespected at the timing. Others countered that Pogba is liked, his situation understood, and whatever an agent says can be ignored internally. “Everybody was accepting how he is already,” says a source close to the squad.
Top intermediaries contacted by The Athletic said Raiola would not have spoken without Pogba’s blessing, but that does not make it impossible. Gael Mahe, Pogba’s agent until the age of 18, suggests that even though it is likely Raiola and Pogba held private discussions, the player ought to be mature enough to set his own agenda. Mahe tells The Athletic: “Paul is a good communicator and can speak better than any representative for himself.”
The silence from Pogba has been deafening, however, especially considering some people at the club wanted him to issue a rebuttal on Instagram or Twitter to his combined audience of more than 50 million followers.
Solskjaer was furious at Raiola and spoke to his player to express his displeasure, but the circumstances dictated a certain diplomacy too, with Pogba possibly required to perform a few hours later.
On Friday, Solskjaer said: “Paul is part of this team. He’s very focused on contributing when he’s here. He’s got the hunger and appetite to play. He wants to train. There have been other players refusing to train and refusing to play — they’re not here anymore of course — but Paul’s not once done that.”
The public message is a major problem, however, and of significant concern is the example the episode sets for younger players. Pogba became the main man in the dressing room after Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney went. Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard are the two who look up to him most, but there is an emerging group too.
“There is a knock-on effect,” says one individual close to the dressing room. In the BT Sport studios, Paul Scholes suggested Maguire might pull Pogba to one side and tell him to get Raiola in line.
It is a delicate dynamic, though. “The dressing room Scholes was in was winning titles. If a player behaved like that, you could replace him,” says a source. “This United isn’t at that point. It’s a horrible job Ole has to manage.”
Pogba was not in Solskjaer’s team even before Raiola spoke. The line-up for Leipzig was decided after the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Raiola’s interview was actually conducted before the West Ham United game and it has not yet been established at Old Trafford whether the subsequent moment of publication was down to Tuttosport or Raiola.
Suspicions are that Solskjaer would have preferred to avoid using Pogba at all against Leipzig as a signal of power — and it seems telling that Donny van de Beek was the first substitute — but it is clear that in pure football terms, the Frenchman can add quality to United’s side.
It remains to be seen how much Pogba features from here but Solskjaer has long since advocated a sale and Woodward is understood to appreciate the need to resolve the matter.
Indeed, The Athletic has been told Pogba has already come close to leaving. Sources say a transfer away was organised late in this recent summer window before the buying club pulled out unexpectedly. United deny this happened.
Needless to say, the prices being spoken about are dwindling. The latest consensus according to industry insiders is the £40 million mark but Raiola’s strategy, according to sources, is to spread enough disharmony that United calculate the economics are better to get rid whatever the fee. Juventus would be willing bidders if they can create space on the wage bill and Raiola has excellent relationships in Turin, where Pavel Nedved, one of his first clients, is the vice-chairman.
Sources say United are prepared for more “grenades” to come but insist no deal will happen just because Raiola is “being noisy” or Juventus offer a player in exchange. It is safe to assume, however, United will not be turning a profit on the £89 million fee even though Pogba, at 27, should be at peak value.
For a player whose arrival was trumpeted with such fanfare, his exit appears destined for a messy conclusion. Quite how it has reached this stage is a long story that, in truth, reflects poorly on many involved.
From speaking to Mahe, Pogba’s first agent, it is tempting to picture an alternative, more melodious universe.
“Paul was around 14 years old when I started working with him, at Le Havre, and he was recognised as one of the best young talents in France,” says Mahe. “When he reached his first national team appearances at youth level, during a tournament in Wales, there was lots of attraction and we were approached by big clubs in Europe.
“It was a question for him and his family to take the right decision for a top career in the long term and not at that age to have a question of contracts or finance. One option was to stay in Le Havre, we had a discussion with Lyon, and the other interest was a global vision from Manchester United.
“It was not an easy decision at 16, but Paul was very mature. For him it was like a dream to have the possibility to play for maybe the best club in the world, to meet Sir Alex Ferguson and the legends of United at this time. He wanted to prove to everybody he was a special player.
“We went to a meeting at Carrington. Ferguson and United’s France scout David Friio had the right vision for the mental, physical and technical journey of Paul. They found the words for him to come.
“Sir Alex did it with lots of attention and took time with Paul in his office and we had lunch in the canteen. Ferguson was very engaged on the environment, education and human being, not so much talking about the football side. He knew it would not be easy for a young player.
“Paul saw Carrington as a family and as soon as you are inside, you meet with all the staff and players. Paul is a very smart person and observes a lot. When he arrived he was like a sponge to absorb everything.
“Paul and I had a personal meeting where we discussed him having a one-club career at United to get all these trophies because we were very enthusiastic and ambitious.”
Then Raiola came on the scene. His scouting network had pinpointed Pogba as a potential star. “As Paul was a minor, there were regulations and until the age of 18, the role of an agent is with a family,” says Mahe. “I had the trust of the father and mother and Paul. There was maybe some middle person who introduced Mr Raiola to Paul and his family.
“Around his 17th birthday, tension appeared to change his environment. When you speak about a player who is captain of the youth French national team, lots of people become interested. There was a break between the family and I, to go to Mr Raiola. I don’t have the explanation in my hands.
“I cannot judge him. Paul is Paul and I have respect for what he did for his family. But if I was today the manager of Paul, he would not have gone to Juventus and would have remained at United.”
Raiola acted with different intentions. Ferguson described their first meeting as a “fiasco”. “Our goose was cooked because Raiola had been able to ingratiate himself with Paul and his family,” he wrote in his 2015 book Leading. During a talk at Sale Sharks, Ferguson had given an uncompromising appraisal. “A shitbag,” he said.
Raiola expanded in an interview with the Financial Times, explaining how he provoked Ferguson in contract negotiations during 2012 by saying, “This is an offer that my chihuahuas don’t sign.” Ferguson responded by calling him a “twat”.
As the conflicts escalated, first-team players were sent to Pogba’s house to get him to stay. He nodded and agreed with them — but then left anyway. He is said to have been beholden to Raiola in a way that Ibrahimovic was not.
Raiola organised a move to Juventus for a fee general director Giuseppe Marotta said was €1.5 million, agreed to avoid legal challenges slowing the process.
A source says: “Sir Alex believed there was a young kid starting to think he was bigger than Man United. ‘I should be playing’. ‘What?’ Now, whether you agree with the manner Sir Alex handled the departure, there is no way he would have re-signed Pogba.”
It is telling that as soon as Ferguson retired, United looked to bring Pogba back. The first enquiry was made in 2013, just 12 months after Pogba’s departure.
Then, three years later, Pogba actually wanted to go to Barcelona — but the Catalans didn’t have the money. He also ranked Real Madrid highly, but United nipped in with a pitch that he would be the “No 5 star” in Spain. “Come home and you’ll be No 1,” Pogba was told. Executives backed this up with charts showing how many social interactions his name had when linked to United in comparison with Real.
Suffice to say such a strategy, and the ensuing media campaign, would have been anathema to Ferguson. “Sir Alex would have resisted,” says a confidante.
Even here, United had a warning of the embroilment ahead. Awkwardly, Raiola announced Pogba’s signing 20 minutes before the official feed. ‘THE MAN IS UNITED,” he tweeted.
Mahe has a theory as to why it has not worked out for Pogba. “When Paul went back to United, it was a very well organised, and Raiola was a maestro in terms of communication and negotiation and securing a global deal,” he says.
“I was surprised by the decision of United to take him back. Once they decided to let Paul out of the club, I think they had to have this same line for the future. In terms of strategy, I think it was maybe not the best idea to concentrate on Paul.
“He came back with a different status. Football is a team balance and the power when he came back to United, it was like an act of revenge. This could be positive in terms of management, but it could also have some negative aspects. Maybe this struggle to balance is the key to this second period.”
One of the consistent complaints from those around Pogba is that the team was never structured to suit his style, which is peculiar for a record signing. At Juventus, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo were elite team-mates. For France, N’Golo Kante did the work of two players.
United might reasonably argue that a player costing so much money should be able to adapt. Mahe says: “Paul is a high-talented player but needs high-talented players around him. In the last years, we discovered he finds the best balance in the national team.”
Bruno Fernandes possesses outstanding quality and for a while at the end of last season, his arrival was said to renew Pogba’s thoughts on staying. But it has become obvious that Fernandes fits perfectly with Solskjaer’s No 10 role, limiting the space for the attacking bursts Pogba enjoys.
Looking at Pogba’s data in the Premier League, Champions League and Europa League going back to 2016-17, we can draw some conclusions about his effectiveness in terms of being a goalscorer, creator and ball progressor.
For a start, we can see that his most common positions for United have been either as a defensive midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, alongside one other player who can hold while Pogba roams forward, or on the left side of midfield in a 4-3-3, which was his favoured position when joining from Juventus.
His time under Mourinho was spent largely between playing on the left side of midfield in a 4-3-3, or in that deeper sitting-and-running role. Under Solskjaer, he’s mostly been utilised as a defensive midfielder.
Unsurprisingly, his scoring threat is at its greatest when playing as a central attacking midfielder, the position that Fernandes now occupies, putting up his best figures for expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes. His 0.28 xG per 90 from central midfield is an elite ratio, and even the 0.17 xG per 90 from defensive midfield is very strong.
Looking at expected assists (xA), which is a measure of the quality of chances that a player creates, Pogba is a pretty solid performer across the various positions. Again, he’s best when playing behind the strikers, albeit 592 minutes is a small sample all things considered, and he has still been an elite creator from defensive midfield and the left in a midfield three.
The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that Pogba has scored fewer goals than his xG tally suggests he should have, but provided more assists than his xA tally suggests.
With penalties removed, Pogba has scored 22 goals for United in Europe and the Premier League from an xG of 27.4. This is over a large enough sample to be confident that there’s some signal here, and it’s not just noise. This is also backed up by data from smarterscout, which gives detailed analytics on players all over the world, producing a score between 0-99, a bit like the player ratings in the FIFA video games but powered by real data and advanced analytics.
Smarterscout rates Pogba’s finishing from open play as 25/99 on all non-headed shots. That essentially means that, when controlling for the quality of the chance and also the quality of the goalkeeper, Pogba actually isn’t that good a finisher compared to his positional peers.
Scoring and creating are just two of the facets of play that are required of him. On the ball, the third is to progress it upfield into threatening positions. On this measure, seven or more passes into the final third per 90 minutes is, again, pretty much elite considering Pogba’s position, as is averaging two or more passes into the penalty area in open play.
Numbers only tell so much of the story, of course. Moments to stir the souls of those in the stands have been scarce. Pogba was influential in United’s run to the 2017 Europa League but it is telling that his standout performance is based on 45 minutes against Manchester City in April 2018.
Pogba has not driven United on in the manner the best midfielders do. “He has never been educated in a way on what real leadership is about,” says a source close to United. “A leader takes responsibility for themselves, first and foremost, and this shines through in their performances. Roy Keane was straightforward but the way he played his game, full of energy, aggressive, setting the tone, it brought respect from his team-mates. Would you want to go to war with him?”
The clip of Pogba rousing his international team-mates before the World Cup final suggests he can inspire in certain circumstances, but Mourinho’s words at the time appear prophetic. “I think the World Cup is the perfect habitat for a player like him to give their best,” Mourinho said. “Why? Because it’s closed for a month, where he can only think about football.”
The tone of Mourinho’s message — critical rather than celebratory — severely damaged a relationship that was once so solid that Pogba convinced Romelu Lukaku, another Raiola client, to join United. It meant Raiola had what some have described as an “unhealthy” number of players at the club, with Lukaku joining Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sergio Romero. Lukaku has since left Raiola (so has Romero) and his friendship with Pogba went sour.
Pogba’s dealings with Mourinho became strained midway through the 2017-18 campaign. That February, following United’s Champions League exit to Sevilla, Mourinho told a supporter in Manchester he felt obliged to play Pogba. Mourinho had dropped Pogba for the tie.
Then in May, Pogba confided in close friends he was unhappy. And it can be reported for the first time that during that summer, after the World Cup, he told Woodward of his desire to seek a move to Barcelona.
By December, the situation was beyond repair. High-level sources state United’s decision was between selling Pogba or sacking Mourinho.
Though the latter may have been the right decision given the atmosphere emanating from Mourinho, sources feel Pogba should have followed him out the door that January. “As much as anything else, it would say to the dressing room, ‘Nobody gets rid of a Manchester United manager. He’s not won the argument’. But Ole handled him well and he enjoyed his most consistent run of form.”
Pogba’s effervescence during Solskjaer’s initial winning streak feels a long time ago. Last season he appeared only eight times before lockdown as an ankle injury proved frustratingly difficult to overcome, and though he was very good on his return, this campaign has been stop-start again.
Pogba has been named on the bench in three Premier League games. A fourth against City, as expected, would be the most of any season since re-joining United.
That rotated status gives context for Raiola starting the fires again. “This guy has been doing it for a living, it’s like a hobby of his, isn’t it?” is the withering assessment of someone who has experience of Raiola’s work.
Mahe, who has a charity trip to Africa planned with Pogba’s brother and mother, has strong opinions on the subject. “An agent cannot interfere in the media before an important game, it is not an individual sport,” he says. “For sure, this would destabilise the environment but he made the buzz to anticipate the future business and make Paul the centre of the issue. The most important thing was the match and qualification.
“Raiola now says it is time to leave United but to me, it is time for Paul to leave Raiola to take responsibility for his image and his career, to drive his career. If I was Paul, it is the right time to take another direction.
“What is important for Paul? Win the Euros, World Cup and Champions League. If he finds the right balance with lots of success, he can reach his long-held dreams of the Ballon d’Or. Now he is far from that, but he has some work to do.”
Sources close to Pogba suggest he was unaware exactly what was coming out or when, and the disturbance before such an important match would not have been by design on his part. But the general message, his desire to depart, is clear.
Due to the pandemic, potential destinations are not plentiful, however. Barcelona cannot afford his wages, which are £290,000 basic at present. The Nou Camp is under immense financial stress.
Pay cuts are on the way at Real Madrid too, with money required to redevelop the Bernabeu. Zinedine Zidane wants Pogba, and that has come loud and clear through prominent commercial intermediaries. The compatriots speak to each other. But sources point to a possible reluctance from president Florentino Perez to deal with Raiola. Perez has not signed a player from his stable in four years.
PSG already have two world stars in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, which leaves Juventus as the leading candidate. The feeling is mutual between the two parties, but again finance is a hurdle.
A swap involving Paulo Dybala has been mooted, but sources have dampened talk of that prospect. Cristiano Ronaldo offers a tantalising alternative. Each year, United explore the possibility of re-signing him, but the salary required would take some structuring.
Mahe gives a sober view. “I think Juventus is the most likely destination, for Raiola to remake the switch,” he says. “But Paul has other choices that I think will be better for him than to go back twice. This period in Juve is different from before. I would take another direction if he has the possibility of PSG or Real Madrid.
“But from the beginning, Paul was a perfect player to have his whole career in United. It is a pity and a shame. At United, he was at the right place from the start.”
(Top image: Sam Richardson)
Pogba remembered the names of people he had met when at United’s academy and gave the genuine impression he was delighted to be back.
It was the Monday after United lifted the Community Shield in August 2016 and, as whispers grew about a world-record signing, the club’s indoor training pitch was a hive of activity. Dotted across the synthetic turf were various stations of in-house media for Pogba to complete, while he and everyone else awaited the results of his medical.
A camera crew from Mob Film, a company hired by United, were there to capture footage for two announcement videos that marked a new direction for the club — and football in general.
For one, there was dim lighting, steam rising, and at the end Pogba lowering his hood to declare, “I’m back.” In the other, Pogba danced to the lyrics of rapper Stormzy in a sequence of sharp cutaways suited to MTV. These were the ideas of Ed Woodward.
“Ed had wanted to do something different to the usual scarf holding,” says a source. “Given the amount of money invested, the typical signing stuff was seen as formulaic and old fashioned.”
The storyboards had been developed the week before, with all staff signing non-disclosure agreements, and when the cameras rolled, United’s commercial chief Richard Arnold was in attendance to oversee production. So too Mino Raiola, dressed casually as ever in an open-necked polo shirt, and his business partner Rafaela Pimenta.
After waiting into the evening and beyond midnight for the final touches, United announced Pogba’s arrival at 12.45am with a tweet that read: “Home #POGBACK”. There was no hiding from the fact this was an expensive return and United made a conscious decision to “tackle head-on” the issue of paying £89 million for a player they had let go for next to nothing. A source says: “It was, ‘Yeah, so what? That’s the way the market is’.”
There was one small issue. Nearly all the photos taken had Pogba looking sullen. “Great shot for an art director maybe,” adds the source. “But what are you communicating to the fans?”
Pogba’s smile spread wide as he chatted to people in between shots, but in front of the lens, he was asked to pull a moody face, and when the images came back, there were only a couple that reflected his happiness. United made sure to release both and, as it happened, every newspaper picked at least one of them. Perhaps, though, the stylised brooding was a sign of things to come.
It has been four and a half years of unfulfilled hope and this is a piece that will explore the key issues, including:
- Pogba’s initial dream of being a one-club player
- The player’s fallout with Jose Mourinho
- The stats showing Pogba’s class
- Claims, which United strongly deny, that they were close to selling him this summer
- The dressing room reaction to Raiola’s comments
- Debate over the future of Raiola and Pogba
“There’s no use ignoring it. It’s better to speak honestly,” Raiola told Tuttosport in quotes published on Tuesday. “Paul is unhappy at Manchester United. He can no longer express himself as he wants to or in the way that’s expected of him. I can say that it’s over for Paul Pogba at Manchester United.”
The first part of Raiola’s inflammatory interview dropped at 3.30pm on the eve of United’s biggest game of the season, a couple of hours after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Harry Maguire had conducted a press conference projecting a way past RB Leipzig.
Instead, talk around the team hotel turned to Pogba’s intentions. “It dominates all the conversations,” says an insider. “When they finish their meetings, ‘Is that right Paul?’ That’s the atmosphere in the dressing room, for sure.”
Some sources said team-mates felt disrespected at the timing. Others countered that Pogba is liked, his situation understood, and whatever an agent says can be ignored internally. “Everybody was accepting how he is already,” says a source close to the squad.
Top intermediaries contacted by The Athletic said Raiola would not have spoken without Pogba’s blessing, but that does not make it impossible. Gael Mahe, Pogba’s agent until the age of 18, suggests that even though it is likely Raiola and Pogba held private discussions, the player ought to be mature enough to set his own agenda. Mahe tells The Athletic: “Paul is a good communicator and can speak better than any representative for himself.”
The silence from Pogba has been deafening, however, especially considering some people at the club wanted him to issue a rebuttal on Instagram or Twitter to his combined audience of more than 50 million followers.
Solskjaer was furious at Raiola and spoke to his player to express his displeasure, but the circumstances dictated a certain diplomacy too, with Pogba possibly required to perform a few hours later.
On Friday, Solskjaer said: “Paul is part of this team. He’s very focused on contributing when he’s here. He’s got the hunger and appetite to play. He wants to train. There have been other players refusing to train and refusing to play — they’re not here anymore of course — but Paul’s not once done that.”
The public message is a major problem, however, and of significant concern is the example the episode sets for younger players. Pogba became the main man in the dressing room after Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney went. Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard are the two who look up to him most, but there is an emerging group too.
“There is a knock-on effect,” says one individual close to the dressing room. In the BT Sport studios, Paul Scholes suggested Maguire might pull Pogba to one side and tell him to get Raiola in line.
It is a delicate dynamic, though. “The dressing room Scholes was in was winning titles. If a player behaved like that, you could replace him,” says a source. “This United isn’t at that point. It’s a horrible job Ole has to manage.”
Pogba was not in Solskjaer’s team even before Raiola spoke. The line-up for Leipzig was decided after the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Raiola’s interview was actually conducted before the West Ham United game and it has not yet been established at Old Trafford whether the subsequent moment of publication was down to Tuttosport or Raiola.
Suspicions are that Solskjaer would have preferred to avoid using Pogba at all against Leipzig as a signal of power — and it seems telling that Donny van de Beek was the first substitute — but it is clear that in pure football terms, the Frenchman can add quality to United’s side.
It remains to be seen how much Pogba features from here but Solskjaer has long since advocated a sale and Woodward is understood to appreciate the need to resolve the matter.
Indeed, The Athletic has been told Pogba has already come close to leaving. Sources say a transfer away was organised late in this recent summer window before the buying club pulled out unexpectedly. United deny this happened.
Needless to say, the prices being spoken about are dwindling. The latest consensus according to industry insiders is the £40 million mark but Raiola’s strategy, according to sources, is to spread enough disharmony that United calculate the economics are better to get rid whatever the fee. Juventus would be willing bidders if they can create space on the wage bill and Raiola has excellent relationships in Turin, where Pavel Nedved, one of his first clients, is the vice-chairman.
Sources say United are prepared for more “grenades” to come but insist no deal will happen just because Raiola is “being noisy” or Juventus offer a player in exchange. It is safe to assume, however, United will not be turning a profit on the £89 million fee even though Pogba, at 27, should be at peak value.
For a player whose arrival was trumpeted with such fanfare, his exit appears destined for a messy conclusion. Quite how it has reached this stage is a long story that, in truth, reflects poorly on many involved.
From speaking to Mahe, Pogba’s first agent, it is tempting to picture an alternative, more melodious universe.
“Paul was around 14 years old when I started working with him, at Le Havre, and he was recognised as one of the best young talents in France,” says Mahe. “When he reached his first national team appearances at youth level, during a tournament in Wales, there was lots of attraction and we were approached by big clubs in Europe.
“It was a question for him and his family to take the right decision for a top career in the long term and not at that age to have a question of contracts or finance. One option was to stay in Le Havre, we had a discussion with Lyon, and the other interest was a global vision from Manchester United.
“It was not an easy decision at 16, but Paul was very mature. For him it was like a dream to have the possibility to play for maybe the best club in the world, to meet Sir Alex Ferguson and the legends of United at this time. He wanted to prove to everybody he was a special player.
“We went to a meeting at Carrington. Ferguson and United’s France scout David Friio had the right vision for the mental, physical and technical journey of Paul. They found the words for him to come.
“Sir Alex did it with lots of attention and took time with Paul in his office and we had lunch in the canteen. Ferguson was very engaged on the environment, education and human being, not so much talking about the football side. He knew it would not be easy for a young player.
“Paul saw Carrington as a family and as soon as you are inside, you meet with all the staff and players. Paul is a very smart person and observes a lot. When he arrived he was like a sponge to absorb everything.
“Paul and I had a personal meeting where we discussed him having a one-club career at United to get all these trophies because we were very enthusiastic and ambitious.”
Then Raiola came on the scene. His scouting network had pinpointed Pogba as a potential star. “As Paul was a minor, there were regulations and until the age of 18, the role of an agent is with a family,” says Mahe. “I had the trust of the father and mother and Paul. There was maybe some middle person who introduced Mr Raiola to Paul and his family.
“Around his 17th birthday, tension appeared to change his environment. When you speak about a player who is captain of the youth French national team, lots of people become interested. There was a break between the family and I, to go to Mr Raiola. I don’t have the explanation in my hands.
“I cannot judge him. Paul is Paul and I have respect for what he did for his family. But if I was today the manager of Paul, he would not have gone to Juventus and would have remained at United.”
Raiola acted with different intentions. Ferguson described their first meeting as a “fiasco”. “Our goose was cooked because Raiola had been able to ingratiate himself with Paul and his family,” he wrote in his 2015 book Leading. During a talk at Sale Sharks, Ferguson had given an uncompromising appraisal. “A shitbag,” he said.
Raiola expanded in an interview with the Financial Times, explaining how he provoked Ferguson in contract negotiations during 2012 by saying, “This is an offer that my chihuahuas don’t sign.” Ferguson responded by calling him a “twat”.
As the conflicts escalated, first-team players were sent to Pogba’s house to get him to stay. He nodded and agreed with them — but then left anyway. He is said to have been beholden to Raiola in a way that Ibrahimovic was not.
Raiola organised a move to Juventus for a fee general director Giuseppe Marotta said was €1.5 million, agreed to avoid legal challenges slowing the process.
A source says: “Sir Alex believed there was a young kid starting to think he was bigger than Man United. ‘I should be playing’. ‘What?’ Now, whether you agree with the manner Sir Alex handled the departure, there is no way he would have re-signed Pogba.”
It is telling that as soon as Ferguson retired, United looked to bring Pogba back. The first enquiry was made in 2013, just 12 months after Pogba’s departure.
Then, three years later, Pogba actually wanted to go to Barcelona — but the Catalans didn’t have the money. He also ranked Real Madrid highly, but United nipped in with a pitch that he would be the “No 5 star” in Spain. “Come home and you’ll be No 1,” Pogba was told. Executives backed this up with charts showing how many social interactions his name had when linked to United in comparison with Real.
Suffice to say such a strategy, and the ensuing media campaign, would have been anathema to Ferguson. “Sir Alex would have resisted,” says a confidante.
Even here, United had a warning of the embroilment ahead. Awkwardly, Raiola announced Pogba’s signing 20 minutes before the official feed. ‘THE MAN IS UNITED,” he tweeted.
Mahe has a theory as to why it has not worked out for Pogba. “When Paul went back to United, it was a very well organised, and Raiola was a maestro in terms of communication and negotiation and securing a global deal,” he says.
“I was surprised by the decision of United to take him back. Once they decided to let Paul out of the club, I think they had to have this same line for the future. In terms of strategy, I think it was maybe not the best idea to concentrate on Paul.
“He came back with a different status. Football is a team balance and the power when he came back to United, it was like an act of revenge. This could be positive in terms of management, but it could also have some negative aspects. Maybe this struggle to balance is the key to this second period.”
One of the consistent complaints from those around Pogba is that the team was never structured to suit his style, which is peculiar for a record signing. At Juventus, Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo were elite team-mates. For France, N’Golo Kante did the work of two players.
United might reasonably argue that a player costing so much money should be able to adapt. Mahe says: “Paul is a high-talented player but needs high-talented players around him. In the last years, we discovered he finds the best balance in the national team.”
Bruno Fernandes possesses outstanding quality and for a while at the end of last season, his arrival was said to renew Pogba’s thoughts on staying. But it has become obvious that Fernandes fits perfectly with Solskjaer’s No 10 role, limiting the space for the attacking bursts Pogba enjoys.
Looking at Pogba’s data in the Premier League, Champions League and Europa League going back to 2016-17, we can draw some conclusions about his effectiveness in terms of being a goalscorer, creator and ball progressor.
For a start, we can see that his most common positions for United have been either as a defensive midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, alongside one other player who can hold while Pogba roams forward, or on the left side of midfield in a 4-3-3, which was his favoured position when joining from Juventus.
His time under Mourinho was spent largely between playing on the left side of midfield in a 4-3-3, or in that deeper sitting-and-running role. Under Solskjaer, he’s mostly been utilised as a defensive midfielder.
Unsurprisingly, his scoring threat is at its greatest when playing as a central attacking midfielder, the position that Fernandes now occupies, putting up his best figures for expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes. His 0.28 xG per 90 from central midfield is an elite ratio, and even the 0.17 xG per 90 from defensive midfield is very strong.
Looking at expected assists (xA), which is a measure of the quality of chances that a player creates, Pogba is a pretty solid performer across the various positions. Again, he’s best when playing behind the strikers, albeit 592 minutes is a small sample all things considered, and he has still been an elite creator from defensive midfield and the left in a midfield three.
The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that Pogba has scored fewer goals than his xG tally suggests he should have, but provided more assists than his xA tally suggests.
With penalties removed, Pogba has scored 22 goals for United in Europe and the Premier League from an xG of 27.4. This is over a large enough sample to be confident that there’s some signal here, and it’s not just noise. This is also backed up by data from smarterscout, which gives detailed analytics on players all over the world, producing a score between 0-99, a bit like the player ratings in the FIFA video games but powered by real data and advanced analytics.
Smarterscout rates Pogba’s finishing from open play as 25/99 on all non-headed shots. That essentially means that, when controlling for the quality of the chance and also the quality of the goalkeeper, Pogba actually isn’t that good a finisher compared to his positional peers.
Scoring and creating are just two of the facets of play that are required of him. On the ball, the third is to progress it upfield into threatening positions. On this measure, seven or more passes into the final third per 90 minutes is, again, pretty much elite considering Pogba’s position, as is averaging two or more passes into the penalty area in open play.
Numbers only tell so much of the story, of course. Moments to stir the souls of those in the stands have been scarce. Pogba was influential in United’s run to the 2017 Europa League but it is telling that his standout performance is based on 45 minutes against Manchester City in April 2018.
Pogba has not driven United on in the manner the best midfielders do. “He has never been educated in a way on what real leadership is about,” says a source close to United. “A leader takes responsibility for themselves, first and foremost, and this shines through in their performances. Roy Keane was straightforward but the way he played his game, full of energy, aggressive, setting the tone, it brought respect from his team-mates. Would you want to go to war with him?”
The clip of Pogba rousing his international team-mates before the World Cup final suggests he can inspire in certain circumstances, but Mourinho’s words at the time appear prophetic. “I think the World Cup is the perfect habitat for a player like him to give their best,” Mourinho said. “Why? Because it’s closed for a month, where he can only think about football.”
The tone of Mourinho’s message — critical rather than celebratory — severely damaged a relationship that was once so solid that Pogba convinced Romelu Lukaku, another Raiola client, to join United. It meant Raiola had what some have described as an “unhealthy” number of players at the club, with Lukaku joining Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sergio Romero. Lukaku has since left Raiola (so has Romero) and his friendship with Pogba went sour.
Pogba’s dealings with Mourinho became strained midway through the 2017-18 campaign. That February, following United’s Champions League exit to Sevilla, Mourinho told a supporter in Manchester he felt obliged to play Pogba. Mourinho had dropped Pogba for the tie.
Then in May, Pogba confided in close friends he was unhappy. And it can be reported for the first time that during that summer, after the World Cup, he told Woodward of his desire to seek a move to Barcelona.
By December, the situation was beyond repair. High-level sources state United’s decision was between selling Pogba or sacking Mourinho.
Though the latter may have been the right decision given the atmosphere emanating from Mourinho, sources feel Pogba should have followed him out the door that January. “As much as anything else, it would say to the dressing room, ‘Nobody gets rid of a Manchester United manager. He’s not won the argument’. But Ole handled him well and he enjoyed his most consistent run of form.”
Pogba’s effervescence during Solskjaer’s initial winning streak feels a long time ago. Last season he appeared only eight times before lockdown as an ankle injury proved frustratingly difficult to overcome, and though he was very good on his return, this campaign has been stop-start again.
Pogba has been named on the bench in three Premier League games. A fourth against City, as expected, would be the most of any season since re-joining United.
That rotated status gives context for Raiola starting the fires again. “This guy has been doing it for a living, it’s like a hobby of his, isn’t it?” is the withering assessment of someone who has experience of Raiola’s work.
Mahe, who has a charity trip to Africa planned with Pogba’s brother and mother, has strong opinions on the subject. “An agent cannot interfere in the media before an important game, it is not an individual sport,” he says. “For sure, this would destabilise the environment but he made the buzz to anticipate the future business and make Paul the centre of the issue. The most important thing was the match and qualification.
“Raiola now says it is time to leave United but to me, it is time for Paul to leave Raiola to take responsibility for his image and his career, to drive his career. If I was Paul, it is the right time to take another direction.
“What is important for Paul? Win the Euros, World Cup and Champions League. If he finds the right balance with lots of success, he can reach his long-held dreams of the Ballon d’Or. Now he is far from that, but he has some work to do.”
Sources close to Pogba suggest he was unaware exactly what was coming out or when, and the disturbance before such an important match would not have been by design on his part. But the general message, his desire to depart, is clear.
Due to the pandemic, potential destinations are not plentiful, however. Barcelona cannot afford his wages, which are £290,000 basic at present. The Nou Camp is under immense financial stress.
Pay cuts are on the way at Real Madrid too, with money required to redevelop the Bernabeu. Zinedine Zidane wants Pogba, and that has come loud and clear through prominent commercial intermediaries. The compatriots speak to each other. But sources point to a possible reluctance from president Florentino Perez to deal with Raiola. Perez has not signed a player from his stable in four years.
PSG already have two world stars in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, which leaves Juventus as the leading candidate. The feeling is mutual between the two parties, but again finance is a hurdle.
A swap involving Paulo Dybala has been mooted, but sources have dampened talk of that prospect. Cristiano Ronaldo offers a tantalising alternative. Each year, United explore the possibility of re-signing him, but the salary required would take some structuring.
Mahe gives a sober view. “I think Juventus is the most likely destination, for Raiola to remake the switch,” he says. “But Paul has other choices that I think will be better for him than to go back twice. This period in Juve is different from before. I would take another direction if he has the possibility of PSG or Real Madrid.
“But from the beginning, Paul was a perfect player to have his whole career in United. It is a pity and a shame. At United, he was at the right place from the start.”
(Top image: Sam Richardson)
