According to the Express, Paul Pogba has told Ole Gunnar Solskjaer he wants to move to Real Madrid despite being offered £500,000 a week to stay at Manchester United.
Alternatively, reports from Talksport have suggested that Barcelona may catch Pogba instead.
Since Mourinho’s departure, Pogba has been in the form of his life and has been a keystone in the United revival under their new manager Solskjaer. Since, he has scored eight and assisted seven in the league, which is a considerable jump in form from his three goals and three assists under Mourinho in the first half of the season.
Yet, to the dismay of United fans, this has clearly caught the eye of the biggest sides in Europe – most notably in Spain.
Now that Zidane is back at the Bernabeu for a second time, he is supposedly gearing up for a big summer transfer window to bring them back to their former glory. This has meant Madrid have been linked with the best talent in the world including the likes of Eden Hazard but also Pogba.
Real Madrid seem to be the front runners with constant rumours linking them with Pogba after he said in a conference, during his euro qualifiers with France, Real Madrid is a “dream club”. This has since sparked rumours that Madrid is the club he is destined for as United are unlikely to give Pogba the club trophies he is searching for.
However, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has recently stated that they were close to signing Pogba from Juventus back in 2016. They were heavily linked to Pogba last summer too and once more it seems the merry-go-round of rumours is back. While previous excuses made by Bartomeu suggesting Barcelona could not afford Pogba were accepted at the time, it currently seems like it is now or never.
Buying the Frenchman back in 2016 may have been a risk, but since then he has won a World Cup, Europa League and a Premier League runners up medal. If Barcelona are serious about replacing the legendary Xavi and Iniesta roles to a new wave, then Pogba at 26 years of age, is one of the few players that could live up to the expectations.
Despite the interest of Barcelona, the Spanish journalist Eduardo Inda insists it is the deal to Madrid that is “almost done”. According to Inda, Pogba has already told Solskjaer he wants to leave and he will do so at the end of the season for a £150 million move to the Spanish capital.
Yet, this is a journalist who enjoys the big transfer rumour headlines and has even stated that Madrid are negotiating a deal with Ngolo Kante and if Griezmann goes to PSG, then Mbappe will move to (guess who?) Real Madrid too.
Obviously, not every single world class player will be joining Los Blancos this summer much to Inda’s surprise, however, there is no doubt Pogba could be close.
His words in public describing the club as a dream may suggest he would jump at the chance, especially in an industry where players are having increasing power over their transfers. It is impossible to rule out their Catalonian rivals but the summer transfer window looks set to have some big money moves.