Pogba tells Man United pals he still wants to leave in summer
Paul Pogba has told Manchester United teammates he still wants to leave the club in the summer.
Pogba, 26, has started six times this season due to two separate ankle injuries and is still determined to end his time at United, with Real Madrid and Juventus still interested.
Dressing room sources have told the MEN Pogba’s ‘head is not currently at the club’ and the majority of players believe it is in United’s best interests he moves on. Pogba remains a very popular figure among friends and teammates, who understand his stance.
Pogba outlined his desire for a ‘new challenge’ in June and his agent Mino Raiola claimed he was ‘in the process’ of engineering a transfer that never materialised. More recently, Raiola said he was ‘sorry’ he could not move Pogba to Madrid and that he ‘wouldn’t bring anyone else’ to United.
On Wednesday Raiola uploaded his first Instagram post in 13 weeks to condemn the attack on Ed Woodward’s house by militant United supporters. Raiola said Woodward ‘has my full support and solidarity’ and he is ‘on his side’.
Although Raiola has expressed an antagonistic attitude towards United on a number of occasions in print and on social media, the executive vice-chairman Woodward is understood to like the Italian. Senior United figures regard Raiola’s outbursts as ‘part of a game’.
United valued Pogba at around £180million last summer but he has technically entered the last 18 months of his contract. United have the option of an additional year to tie Pogba to the club until 2022 but the length of his deal, as well as the troublesome ankle injuries, are causing the Frenchman’s re-sale value to dwindle.
Paul Pogba tells Manchester United teammates he still wants to leavehttps://t.co/FlhG7JyFYx
— Manchester News MEN (@MENnewsdesk) February 4, 2020
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Pogba returned from a three-month lay-off last month against Watford on December 22 yet managed 71 minutes as a substitute at Vicarage Road and against Newcastle United on Boxing Day before he required ankle surgery. Pogba has had the cast removed from his ankle, though a return against Chelsea in United’s next game on February 17 appears unlikely after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said Pogba would not travel with the squad to their warm weather training camp on Maybella.
The MEN reported in August Solskjaer was angered by Real coach Zinedine Zidane’s flagrant attempt to unsettle Pogba following his reappointment at the Bernabeu in March. It is understood United partly resisted a move for Bruno Fernandes in the summer to prioritise keeping Pogba.