Home » Juventus put detailed plans in place for Paul Pogba’s return

Juventus put detailed plans in place for Paul Pogba’s return

by Red Billy

Paul Pogba’s wish to move from Manchester United to Juventus looks likely to be granted as the Italian side are already working to create space in their wage budget.

There have been a number of reports that despite their desire to bring the Frenchman back to the fold, the Old Lady cannot afford to match Pogba’s current £15 million per year salary, especially while they are paying £28 million a year for the services of Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, Calciomercato.com yesterday reported that the Serie A side are planning to shed a lot of deadwood from the squad to free up the necessary funds to launch their own ‘Pogback’ transfer.

‘It is a possibility that today appears economically difficult to sustain, but not impossible,’ the outlet claims.

‘It will be necessary to shed some of the current squad’s redundancies and the most important name is certainly that of Sami Khedira, who earns over 6 million euros and has a contract expiring at the end of the season.

‘Another possible name is that of Federico Bernardeschi, who does not have a primary role in [head coach Andrea] Pirlo’s rotations and has a lot of marketability. He also earns a lot, 4 million a year until 30 June 2022.

‘Then there are players on loan today such as De Sciglio, Rugani and Douglas Costa, respectively 3 million, 4 million and 6 million euros, who do not affect this season’s budget (in whole or in part), but who must be taken into account if they return to Turin.

‘Finally, we should also not forget Maurizio Sarri’s contract, who is still on the budget for 5.5 million euros until 30 June 2022. It would be difficult to agree a termination with the former boss, but his farewell, like those of the others, could allow Juve to dream of a big move for Pogba.’

What Pogba now has at Juventus, as he still does at Real Madrid, is a head coach who knows him, has worked with him and who will push to get him to the club. Pirlo played alongside Pogba in the Juve midfield for three years from 2012 to 2015.

With Real Madrid now having other priorities and head coach Zinedine Zidane reportedly likely to step down at the end of the season – if he is not sacked in the meantime – Juventus are now looking almost certain to be Pogba’s next destination, if a transfer fee can be agreed.

United are now looking at a cut-price fee of around £50 million but may have to be flexible even on that if they want to cut their losses as recoup something before the Frenchman’s contract expires in 18 months’ time.

Edinson Cavani has made quite an impact since his deadline day arrival at Old Trafford, but how much do you know about our other South American players, past and present? Take our quiz below to find out!

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