Insider Notes: Pogba's Agent Trying to Incite Transfer Amid Mourinho Squabble
The tension between Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba is real, at least from one end of the equation. A source with firsthand knowledge says that Pogba’s representative, the super-agent Mino Raiola, has been calling other top European clubs in the past week to try and persuade them to go after Pogba in the summer transfer market. So far nobody is biting.
One of those top clubs pursued Pogba two summers ago and now feels like it dodged a bullet by not signing him and having Pogba completely change the club’s salary structure for its players. At the time, Pogba was signed for a world-record £89 million fee from Juventus and he reportedly makes £290,000 a week in wages. As for Mourinho, he’s telling people that he likes Pogba, has no interest in selling him and is just trying to motivate the French star to play better.
The plot thickened on Wednesday, when Pogba was left out of Man United's starting lineup to face Sevilla in the Champions League despite the expectation he would return to action after missing a weekend FA Cup win over Huddersfield Town.
Elsewhere around the soccer world:
Roma must sell players to meet FFP requirements
Roma has been having issues meeting the requirements for Financial Fair Play, and a source with knowledge of the situation says those needs will likely force the club to have to sell more players this summer. I’m told that two players in significant demand are prospects Lorenzo Pellegrini, a midfielder who’s drawing interest from Real Madrid, and Turkish winger Cengiz Ünder.
The club recently considered selling Edin Dzeko in the January window for FFP reasons, but it decided not to when Roma’s fans demanded that he stay. But some sales will almost certainly have to take place this summer.
