The Paul Pogba move back to Manchester United has now finally been signed, sealed and delivered. Here is a link to his first photos and interview as a member of United for the second time. #Pogback is now officially underway. Here’s a link to what the United first team might look like with Pogba in it.
Juventus have confirmed the transfer fee of €105 million (£89.3 million, $116.4 million). That surpasses the sale of Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid for a new world record.
As United Manager Jose Mourinho said in regards to the very exorbitant price: “football is crazy.” Here’s a link to more on that.
Given that this is a world record breaking deal, everyone has an opinion on it, and we’ve collected those opinions (from football pundits) for you below. We also curated opinions from players and coaches, and you can view that over at this link.
Paul Pogba’s signing is twofold for United. They not only get one of the world’s best center-midfielders, still yet to reach his prime, but they now have an marketing cash cow on their hands. United and adidas already leveraged the hype surrounding his transfer with their cleverly timed advertising campaigns leading up to his official announcement, and they’ll continue to pump every advertising dollar they can out of the young Frenchman.
-Former United captain Gary Neville, who is returning to his role as a Sky Sports pundit, said:
“It excites me, because for the last three or four years the Premier League hasn’t been exciting enough.”
“Not that it hasn’t excited me, but the quality of the football hasn’t been of the highest level. I think the quality has been poor. For all the money that has been spent, we’ve not been able to keep Grade A players or incentivise them to come here in the first place.”
“I feel that, for the first time in a few years, a potential world-class player, who could have gone to Barcelona or Real Madrid, is coming to an English club. That’s good for the league.
“The fact that Guardiola is here, Mourinho is here, Conte has come, the fact that we’ve enticed Pogba to come, I think it gives the feeling that something is starting to happen again, that the very best players might be starting to think about coming to England again.
“The best players in the world are at Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, and they need to start coming to Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, City.
“With the money we have in this league we have to be attracting not just the best managers but the best players.
“They spend an incredible amount of money and, with what the fans are paying, what Sky are paying, we need to be seeing the best players over here rather than watching teams struggle like crazy in the Champions League.”
-Andy Mitten, via ESPN FC, says that United are now world beaters with the Paul Pogba signing:
Despite laying a serious claim to being the biggest club on the planet, Manchester United had never broken the world’s transfer record for a footballer. They had broken the British record 12 times, most recently with Angel Di Maria’s £59.7 million signing from Real Madrid in 2014, but never the global mark.
Until Paul Pogba joined, that is. The Frenchman’s €105 million (£89m) signing beats that of Gareth Bale to Madrid two years ago by over €4m and means United join a select group of clubs, some far more illustrious than others. The same can be said about the men who, over the years, have been the planet’s most expensive players, though more were a success than not.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.