Paul Pogba deal: Real Madrid ready to offer £73m plus James Rodriguez and Mariano Diaz

Real Madrid are ready to offer Manchester United a package for Paul Pogba that they think is too good to turn down.

According to The Sun, the Spanish giants will give the Red Devils £73m in cold, hard cash along with James Rodriguez and Mariano Diaz in exchange for Pogba.

The Daily Mirror predicts that United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will find the offer sorely “tempting” given his relationship with Pogba, who last played for United in September.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

There are some who believe his ankle injury is a convenient excuse to try and engineer a move away from Old Trafford.

Although the Mirror says that Solskjaer has “regularly defended the World Cup winner” in recent months, every manager has his breaking point and the prospect of landing Rodriguez and Diaz is an attractive one.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For analysis of the biggest sport stories - and a concise, balanced take on the week’s news - try The Week magazine. Start your trial today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Trickery customer

Colombian playmaker Rodriguez has long been linked with a move to the Premier League with Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool all mooted as possible destinations.

The Sun says that the midfielder has featured just nine times this season after returning from a two-year loan at Bayern Munich and apparently Solskjaer appreciates the Colombian’s “trickery”.

As for former Lyon marksman Diaz, he has failed to repeat his impressive exploits in front of goal since returning to his native Spain in 2018.

Struggling for game time under Zinedine Zidane, the striker “could prove to be good cover for Marcus Rashford”.

Sancho silenced

A four-word message from Jadon Sancho has given Man Utd “transfer hope”, reports the Daily Express.

The 19-year-old England winger was benched for Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Barcelona and although he subsequently scored Borussia Dortmund’s goal in the 3-1 defeat he later told reporters he couldn’t answer their questions because he was “not allowed to speak”.

The Express says that Sancho has been silenced by Dortmund because they are “showing zero tolerance towards rumours he may leave the club”.

United are leading the chase to sign the teenage sensation next summer and the Express believes that Dortmund’s heavy-handed approach is “likely to push Sancho towards the exit door”.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For analysis of the biggest sport stories - and a concise, balanced take on the week’s news - try The Week magazine. Start your trial today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––