It turns out that Manchester United’s star midfielder Paul Pogba could have ended up in Spain in 2016 if only Barcelona had more money at their disposal. This was revealed by Barca’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu in a recent chat with ESPN FC ahead of his team’s clash with Pogba and Man Utd in the quarterfinals of Champions League.
According to Bartomeu, La Liga giants were interested in acquiring Pogba from Juventus in 2015 and reached an agreement with the player’s agent Mino Raiola that they will have the opportunity to match any offer for France international. Man Utd came up with $120 million offer a year later, but Barca couldn’t afford to go that high.
“In the summer of 2015, Paul Pogba was playing in Turin and we simply told Juve that, if one day they decide to sell the player, we would be interested,” – said Bartomeu. “When they sold the player, they told us what the offer would have to be and we couldn’t afford that amount of money at the time. So he went to United, and he’s making them better as a team because he’s one of the stars of the world of football right now.”
Three years later, however, Barcelona could have a chance to make up for its mistakes from the past. The club is now financially stable and would have no problem paying a hefty sum to get Paul Pogba. The 26-year-old has been heavily linked with an exit from Old Trafford while Barca and Real Madrid being mentioned as his most likely destinations.
When asked about this, Bartomeu decided to remain respectful towards Manchester.
“I prefer not to talk about players from other teams because I am sure there are also players at Barca that can make other teams better.” – he responded.
