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The former director of Atalanta has claimed that Paul Pogba might have turned out for the Italian side in a synergy deal with Juventus back in 2012.

Pierpaolo Marino was speaking to Rai Sport and revealed that the Frenchman was the subject of interest from the Serie A outfit because Juve had reservations about how much he would play in the beginning.

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He said: "We had an agreement with Juve to take Pogba in a synergy deal between the two clubs since Juve weren't sure that they would've been able to give him playing time. We had even found an agreement with Mino but the player then wasn't convinced and a deal failed to happen."

Pogba infamously ended up leaving Manchester United after growing tired of his lack of first team opportunities under Sir Alex Ferguson, and eventually departed for just £800,000 to join the Old Lady.

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The move proved to be the making of the player, so it was a good thing he turned down Atalanta. It didn't take the talented youngster very long to break into the starting XI, and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio evidently helped his development.

(You may also be interested inFormer Man Utd Star Believes Paul Pogba Would be Performing Better at Man City or Tottenham).

Pogba eventually left Juve in 2016 to re-join United in an £89m deal - a world record transfer at the time, and the 24-year-old is arguably the star man at Old Trafford, although he is currently under some pressure following a few lacklustre displays and possible 'mismanagement'.