- Manchester United have resisted all of Real Madrid’s attempts to sign Paul Pogba
- The La Liga giants still have two more weeks left to try and bend United’s arm
- Madrid are pessimistic but there’s still some who are trying to make it happen
Manchester United kept their word this summer and resisted all attempts by Real Madrid to sign Paul Pogba.
There are still two weeks left of the window but they now seem even less likely to sanction a move because they cannot buy a replacement until January.
Despite the pessimism emanating from the Spanish club there still seems to be a small loyal army of agitators trying to move the player to the Spanish capital. Sportsmail looks at who makes up Team Pogba.
Paul Pogba remains a Man United player but Real Madrid have two more weeks to seal a deal
Mathias Pogba
Mathias appeared on popular late-night football show ‘El Chiringuito’ last week and said: ‘Florentino Perez can still make it happen that my brother comes to Madrid.’
This was music to the show’s ears. They desperately need a Pogba or a Neymar sensation to brighten up the last two weeks of the Spanish transfer window.
Mathias did his part for team Pogba too when he moved to Spain to play for Manchego.
He started his career in the youth team at Celta Vigo and is now back in Spain aged 29 playing in the fourth tier.
Mathias Pogba refused to rule out his brother joining Madrid before Spain’s transfer deadline
Florentin Pogba
Mathias’ twin Florentin tried to become the second Spain-based player in the summer when he almost moved to second tier Madrid-based team Fuenlabrada.
The club’s sporting director admitted: ‘It’s true that they have offered us Florentin Pogba. First of all I have to decide if he is the type of player we are looking for in this position.
‘He has shown he has the quality to play at this level but as sporting director I have to look beyond the fact that he is Paul Pogba’s brother.’
The central defender did not sign and so the count of Pogba’s in Spain still stands at one.
Florentin Pogba wanted to follow his brother to Spain and tried to join a second tier sid
Mino Raiola
Pogba might already be a Real Madrid player were it not for the absence of warmth in the relationship between Raiola and Florentino Perez. Raiola has history with Madrid.
In 2015, a year before Pogba joined Manchester United, Pogba was tipped for a move to La Liga and Barcelona and Real Madrid were interested. Madrid’s then coach Carlo Ancelotti publicly distanced himself from a move and Pogba’s agent was quoted in L’Equipe as saying: ‘Madrid buy players the way some people buy bath towels and then throw aside. We are not interested in a club like that.’
A year earlier James Rodriguez had been bought by Real Madrid on the strength of his World Cup wonder goal for Colombia against Uruguay. Raiola added: ‘Madrid is a club that buys a player just because he plays six games well in the World Cup.’
Perez has never brought a big player from Raiola and so Madrid have never had to pay him a sizeable commission. Football Leaks claimed he was paid £41million for Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United.
Mino Raiola wants Pogba to join Real Madrid but the agent has bad history with the club
Zinedine Zidane
Not strictly one of the group but no one wanted this move to happen more than the Real Madrid coach. Last season had not even finished when he started to play his own part in the campaign to get Pogba to Spain.
When he took over in March one of his principle requests, along with Eden Hazard, was for the club to sign the Manchester United midfielder. He was unusually frank at the end of that month when he said in one press conference: ‘I like Pogba a lot. That is not something new. I know him personally, he’s different and he gives you something different that very few players can offer. If when his experience at United is over and he wants to come, why would he not come to Madrid?’
He hadn’t finished there, adding: ‘He is a midfielder who is capable of defending and attacking, he knows how to do everything on the pitch.’ His treatment of Gareth Bale was largely based on the idea that United wanted Bale as they had done in previous seasons and that a cash plus Bale deal would bring Pogba to Real Madrid.
Before the first game of the season there was a very different Zidane sat before the Madrid press conference cameras. ‘I am focused just on tomorrow’s game and I believe I have the best players here,’ he said. ‘Paul is a Manchester United player and we have to respect them. I am focused on the players I have here.’
Zinedine Zidane was desperate to land the Frenchman this summer and made him No 1 target.
source:dailymail
