Chelsea boosted in the race to sign €260m Barcelona target - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Mino Raiola, agent of Paul Pogba, has revealed that Barcelona were one of the three clubs who tried to prise the French midfielder away from Turin in the summer.
The Blaugrana offered in the region of €85m but Raiola believes a world record transfer fee is needed to land the Frenchman.
Raiola told RMC Sport, as noted by Gazzetta World:
Everyone knows that Pogba was [Barcelona presidential candidate] Joan Laporta’s main target. Whether it is Laporta or whether it is someone else, it remains a possibility.
Juventus met with Barcelona but they weren’t able to take him in the end because they are banned from signing players until January. Paul chose to remain, for at least another year.
In future we will see, the door is open to all clubs. The player has a very high cost though. In the summer, Juventus rejected an €85 million offer from the Blaugrana.
That is not enough: Juventus valuate the player at €100 million. The top Spanish and English clubs [could] pay this, but Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich shouldn’t be excluded.
Juventus were determined to keep hold of their star midfielder after seeing two star midfielders – Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal – leaving the club in the summer.
Also, Pogba was right to remain with the Bianconeri for another year given he would have missed the first half of the season due to Barcelona’s transfer ban.
Barcelona have shown great willingness to splash big money on Pogba, as they look to fill the void left by club legend Xavi Hernandez.
The question is – can they sign him?
Catalan newspaper Sport thinks otherwise. In their latest article headline “Pogba Worth 260 million”, they believe the signing has “gone through the roof” because of the high demands of the club, the player and his agent. The negotiations have been frozen.
Sport reports that it will take a great effort to persuade Juventus to sell Pogba along with loads of money. Juventus weren’t willing to sell him for anything less than 100m. His agent would ask for a six long term contract around 25m per year, which sums up to 150m. Plus, the player demands an additional 10m as commission. To put it simply, in order to make the deal into a reality, Barcelona should be ready to a gigantic sum of 260m investment for one single player.
Barcelona have ruled themselves out of the race. Pogba is no longer a priority for them. Therefore the talks have stalled between the two clubs.
Chelsea were one of the clubs that had shown great interest in signing him in the summer transfer window. If the reports from Italy are to be believed, the blues were ready to dish out €85m for Pogba, but the player himself turned down such a lucrative offer.
The Blues are expected to make a move for him again next summer. The London giants have the financial power to make Pogba a record signing for the club. With Barcelona seemingly out of the equation, Chelsea may have a chance here to sign the most sought-after youngster in world football.
From Soccerlens.com - Football News
