Manchester United are now off until April 4, when they’ll resume their Premier League campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion. In the meantime, we’ve got some transfer talk to do, so let’s dive right in with the newest narrative related to Paul Pogba.
As his agent Mino Raiola previously said this season, at the most inopportune time possible, this might be Pogba’s last season of his second stint with the club. So, given his high wages and astronomical transfer fee, where could he go?
Perhaps we’ll have some history repeating, as #Pogback, in 2016, was Pogba leaving Juventus and coming back to Old Trafford. So why not do a return to Juve?
That’s a narrative discussed by the Daily Mail, who go on to say that Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey could be sold off in order to raise the funding to acquire Pogba.
If Juventus don’t go for Pogba, then Sassuolo midfielder Manuel Locatelli could be another high potential target. Shifting to another United player who could be on the move this summer, central defender Eric Bailly made headlines earlier this week, when one of his close friends said the Ivorian feels disrespected by the club.
His deal is set to expire in 2022, but according to ESPN, he “will ask for assurances over playing time before committing his long-term future to Manchester United.”
The 26-year-old has had an injury plagued spell at MUFC, and even when healthy, he hasn’t always been in the plans.
He was left out of the last two matches entirely, and it remains to be seen where he truly fits into the United central defense. United have had issues at this position for a long time, and it looks likely they’ll be on the move for another centrehalf or two this summer.
And if that’s the case, then Bailly will have even more of an issue trying to get playing time.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.