Man Utd: will Paul Pogba and Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale swap clubs?

Real Madrid are more determined than ever to dump Gareth Bale and Manchester United are primed to be the beneficiaries.

The Sun says the Welshman could be an Old Trafford player as early as January, and if that doesn’t come to fruition he will be definitively discarded next summer as Real know the Red Devils are “determined to land a star name”.

Apparently Bale was on the brink of signing for China’s Jiangsu Suning last summer in a £1m-a-week deal, but Real blocked the move at the 11th hour with the demand for the transfer fee.

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Now, however, Real head coach Zinedine Zidane allegedly wants to get shot of Bale and United are ready to do business with the winger.

Wage reduction

That “business”, claims the Sun, is likely to involve Real using Bale “as leverage to bring Paul Pogba to the Bernabeu”.

The quandary for United is whether to wave adieu to the Frenchman in January or wait until the summer, although the Daily Express claims that the biggest obstacle to any exchange will be about money.

Pogba pockets £290,000-a-week at United, while Bale is on £600,000-a-week in Spain. So if the Welshman is serious about a return to the Premier League he will “have to reduce his wage demands”.

Isco not Bale

The Daily Star agrees with its competitors that Real are homing in on Pogba, but the paper claims that Isco and not Bale will be the player thrown into the bargain.

Apparently the 27-year-old Isco has fallen out of favour with Zidane, and the Star, quoting Spanish publication Eldesmarque, says the La Liga giants will tell United to give them Pogba in return for £68.5m in cash and Isco.

To further complicate matters, the Star says that Juventus haven’t given up the ghost on their former star, and could make an offer for Pogba in the new year after Cristiano Ronaldo gave his blessing to any such move.

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