Paul Pogba could soon be saying adieu to Old Trafford, reports the Sunday Mirror. The paper claims that Jose Mourinho is “ready to axe” the French midfielder as part of his major summer makeover at Manchester United.
Apparently Mourinho is eyeing up what the Mirror describes as a “£200m transfer blitz of Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus”. Raphael Varane, Toni Kroos, Marquinhos, Marco Verratti and Alex Sandro are all pencilled in on his end-of-season shopping list.
With the United coffers running low, Mourinho’s shopping spree will be funded by the sale of Pogba. The club are looking to recoup the £89m they forked out for the Frenchman in 2016.
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The Sun says that Pogba and Mourinho are “barely on speaking terms” after the Special One dropped his star player from his starting line-up. Consequently, the Premier League’s most expensive player is “giving his boss the silent treatment”.
In response, claims the Mirror, Pogba has been told to curtail his addiction to social media and focus instead on delivering “high-level performances”. But that won’t be enough to save his Old Trafford career with Mourinho ready to use Pogba as “bait” in a bid to hook his big names.
It’s believed that French centre-back Varane will cost £70m to prise out of Real. Kroos is likely to cost United around £100m, a price worth paying with the United gaffer “admiring his drive and intelligence on the pitch”.
Although Mourinho is quietly confident of getting his men, he’s drafted a Plan B which involves making a play for the PSG back-up plan of Marquinhos and Marco Verratti.
As for Juventus left-back Alex Sandro, Mourinho wants him as a replacement for Luke Shaw (likely to be offloaded to Arsenal). The asking price is thought to be in the region of £45m.