Manchester United are set to make an official bid for Paul Pogba today with club officials meeting the Juventus directors Giuseppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici as well as the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, to discuss the deal.
Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, was originally due to travel with the team to China for their pre-season tour yesterday but he did not board the plane and it is understood that he will be part of the delegation that is meeting Juventus.
United are expected to make an opening bid of £100mn with £13mn of that performance-related add-ons. Juventus are likely to reject that offer – they want £100mn without add-ons to even contemplate a sale – and are still hoping to hold on to the 23-year-old midfielder, who has a contract until 2019.
The Serie A club will meet United to get a sense of whether they would be prepared to raise their offer and will then talk to the player and Raiola. Pogba has not yet said that he wants to leave the club and the deal is likely to hinge on him demanding a move.
Pogba would be offered a contract worth £250,000 a week. If the two clubs can agree a deal the Frenchman would become United’s fourth summer signing following the arrivals of Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. If a deal can be concluded Pogba would return to the club he left in 2012.
Real Madrid are the only other club the player could join and the Spanish club’s manager Zinedine Zidane said on Monday: “I am happy with the squad I have got and it’s difficult to improve on it. Do I like Pogba? Of course, he’s a very good player and every club wants the best players but right now he’s at Juve and we have a large squad already.”
Zidane added: “There are still lots of players yet to join up with the squad and with the Euros going on we couldn’t do anything. We have three games coming up and that’s the focus at the moment.”
The new United manager, Jose Mourinho, who replaced Louis van Gaal in the summer, and the team flew to China yesterday. There they will face Borussia Dortmund on 22 July and Manchester City three days later.
Ibrahimovic is not in the travelling party but Mkhitaryan and Bailly are. Ibrahimovic joined United on a free transfer after leaving French champions Paris Saint Germain at the end of last season, but the Premier League club’s legion of fans in China won’t get a first glimpse of the marquee signing in a United shirt.
Although United’s 25-man squad for the trip includes captain Wayne Rooney, young stiker Marcus Rashford, Chris Smalling, David De Gea and Paddy McNair, who all exited Euro 2016 later than Ibrahimovic, the former Barcelona and Inter Milan forward was granted extra time off by Mourinho and is currently sunning himself in Los Angeles.
Ibrahimovic’s first United appearance is likely to come against Galatasaray in Gothenburg on July 30. The 35-year-old’s absence won’t slow the clamour to see United’s glamour friendlies against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on Friday and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in Beijing on Monday.
Ibrahimovic’s fellow close-season arrivals Bailly, an Ivory Coast defender signed from Villarreal, and Mkhitaryan, a former Borussia Dortmund midfielder, are on the plane to Asia for the week-long trip.
Also included is England left-back Luke Shaw, who will continue to step up his fitness after making his return from long-term injury in the 2-0 friendly win at Wigan on Saturday. Youngsters Axel Tuanzebe, Will Keane and Andreas Pereira will get a chance to impress after being named in the group.
France internationals Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin, Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger and Italy’s Matteo Darmian are not going to the Far East following their Euro 2016 campaigns.
Striker James Wilson started against Wigan but is not included, nor are Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Tyler Blackett and Guillermo Varela.