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French midfielder Paul Pogba has rejoined Manchester United for a reported fee of £89million, breaking the highest transfer of a player since Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid in 2013.
The 23 year old, who was famously sold to Juventus for just £1.5million under Sir Alex Ferguson four years ago, arrives back at Old Trafford on a five year deal.
The French midfielder, who has won 38 caps for his country and was part of the France side that lost to Portugal in the Euro 2016 Final, said; “the time is right to go back to Old Trafford”, despite previously saying that he’d felt “frustrated” with the lack of appearances under Ferguson.
New Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, who has already signed Ivory Coast defender Eric Bailly, Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borrusia Dortmund, has shaped a quality looking squad during the summer as the Red Devil’s will look to regain the Premier League title.
Mourinho also said that the France international could be “the heart of the club” for the next decade.
Pogba joined Manchester United from French side Le Havre in 2009, but from 16 years old, the Frenchman would only make seven appearances for the senior side before his departure to Juventus.
During his four year tenure with the Italian club, Pogba scored 34 goals in 178 appearances, and won four successive Serie A titles.
He was offered a new deal by the club, but with high interest, most notably from United and Real Madrid, Pogba decided to rejoin the English club.
Pogba said he had spoken to Mourinho “a few times”, as well as talking to France team-mates who had worked under the former Chelsea boss.
“He gave me energy, he gave me positivity,” said Pogba. “They all told me he’s the coach for me – he will make me improve a lot and make me work harder.”
Mourinho has wasted little time in shaping his new look United side over the summer. The high profile signings, something we haven’t really seen since the retirement of Ferguson, has lifted the club as they search for just their first league title since 2013.
Needless to say, many have welcomed this as a positive move for the Premier League. It is the first time in twenty years that an English side have broken the world record transfer fee for a player – Alan Shearer to Newcastle United from Blackburn Rovers (£15million) – and pundits suggests that he could be the first of many to make the move to English football.
Match of the Day presenter, Gary Linekar, Tweeted; “The signing of Pogba by Man Utd is a watershed moment for the Premier League. First time a huge foreign star in his prime has come to England.”
Former Manchester United players, including Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, have also had their say. Former right back, Gary Neville, said; “I think it is a big fee, but the Premier League was losing players left, right and centre to Spain – all the grade A players. We couldn’t entice players to come here and we couldn’t keep them when we had the best ones. At least now it looks like we are signing a player who would be regarded as a top signing of the summer.”
Pogba, who in addition to his four Serie A titles, has won two Italian Cups and two Italian Super Cups during his time with Juventus.
And not only have Manchester United broken the world record transfer fee, but it’s also the first time since 2000 that the record hasn’t been broken by Real Madrid, after they surpassed it on five occasions when signing Luis Figo (2000), Zinedine Zidane (2001), Kaka (2009), Cristiano Ronaldo (2009) and most recently, Gareth Bale in 2013.
