Midfielder Paul Pogba has revealed why he failed to extend his stay at Manchester United beyond this summer.
The Frenchman will be leaving Old Trafford for the second time in his career and is set to rejoin Juventus having been bought for a record €105 million in 2016.
The Athletic report on a preview of “The Pogmentary”, to be shown on Amazon Prime from tomorrow, which sheds some light on Pogba’s world and shows some discussions the player had with his agent Mino Raiola who has since passed away.
Pogba’s reaction to the offer United put on the table was to call it “nothing”. In the documentary, Pogba asks: “Did Manchester (United) make a second offer?”
“Yes. They absolutely want you to stay. For me, the offer doesn’t reflect that. I told them, ‘If you want him to stay, don’t make that offer’. I will make them understand that if they really want you to stay and they want to build a project around you, this time they have to act differently and put the money on the table,” Raiola replies.
“They’re bluffing,” Pogba says. “How can you tell a player you absolutely want him and offer him nothing? Never seen that.”
In another section, the 29-year-old says “My thought process is to show Manchester that they made a mistake in waiting to give me a contract … and to show other clubs that Manchester had made a mistake in not offering me a contract.”
Author of the article Oliver Kay seems bemused by these comments, noting that United had in fact “made at least two offers worth more than the existing £290,000-a-week deal that had already made him one of the best-paid players in the Premier League.”
