Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has always been routinely linked with Real Madrid for what seems like forever now, and the French star has fanned the flames after admitting “Real Madrid is a dream for anyone” during the international break.
With the summer transfer window approaching, the rumours are bound to start doing the rounds all over again, but Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has explained why the La Liga giants won’t be interested in sealing a deal for the United man, claiming his agent Mino Raiola is only trying to be in the news and make something happen.
“A lot of rumours have started suggesting that Real Madrid want Pogba. Clearly, Zinedine Zidane admires Pogba and Pogba has been flirting with Real Madrid. When that happens, it’s because somebody wants something to happen. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen,” Balague said on his official YouTube channel.
“Pogba has backed [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer, Manchester United don’t wanna get rid of Pogba and the money that he will cost Real Madrid is something that, at the moment, Real Madrid are not willing to pay. Now it’s interesting because Real Madrid are actually trying to get new investors to bring into the club new money by sponsorship or bonds, and the suggestion is that they’re looking to do that in the States especially. Money that will allow: number one – to rebuild the stadium, but also to give the facility of Real Madrid using money to get new players coming in.”
“To do the big changes that Zidane wants to do, big in terms of some of the names that are involved but not big in terms of the number of players that are gonna come in or out, it’s not gonna be a massive, massive change. Count on three, four new players for Real Madrid and that’s all – and they won’t be the big names.
“We’ve dealt with Pogba. I don’t think it’s going to happen even though the rumours are going to continue. It’s Mino Raiola, after all, who runs the professional life of Pogba and he likes to be in the news constantly. But it’s not the kind of investment some people [think]. £500million is what it will cost to bring Pogba to Real Madrid. Not just in terms of a transfer fee, but wages as well. Forget it, it is not something that Real Madrid are contemplating right now.”
The 26-year-old has two years left on his current deal at Old Trafford, and it doesn’t seem the Red Devils are in a rush to go into contract extension talks at the moment.
While a future move to the Santiago Bernabeu can’t be ruled out for Pogba, it doesn’t look like anything will happen anytime soon, and it is hard to see Madrid budgeting around half a billion just to secure his services.