Barca’s director of football pulled out for economic reasons
Paul Pogba could have joined Barcelona this summer, had his valuation not been so high, according to the Catalan’s director of football Ariedo Braida.
Instead Barca signed Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes for £41.7 million from Valencia, having not long since secured the European Championships with his country, against Pogba’s France.
Manchester United completed the world-record signing of Pogba for £89 million from Juventus last week, after a drawn-out transfer saga that also saw the France midfielder linked with Real Madrid.
Few teams would have been able to compete for the transfer of Pogba, but Barcelona could have been one of them. However, Braida has concerns about the player’s price tag and admits he doesn’t feel the 23-year-old is worth the money.
“Barcelona pulled out of the race to sign Pogba for economic reasons.” Braida admitted.
“There is no discussion about his qualities and I think he will assert himself at Manchester United, but there will be criticism each time he is not at his best.
“People will see the transfer fee and expect him to win games on his own and this is simply not possible.
“Some figures are upsetting. No one is worth that kind of money. When you get to a certain level, we are getting too detached from normal life. We are talking about an operation of €150million if we include wages.”
Pogba is set to earn £290,000-a-week at Old Trafford – four years on from being free to leave United, after failing to secure himself a place in Sir Alex Ferguson’s plans – while his agent Mino Raiola pocketed, what is believed to be, £20 million.
All in all, the figures being discussed completely uninterested Barcelona, and, instead, decided to invest on a cheaper and highly-rated young midfielder with great potential, which, no doubt, Barca being Barca, will pay off.
Braida also questioned how Pogba may react to such a fee, given the fact that no other player on the planet has ever cost that much. Not even Cristiano Ronaldo.
But luckily for the Frenchman, he will begin his second spell as a United player in the modest surroundings of the 11,464-capacity Vitality Stadium, when Jose Mourinho’s men begin their Premier League campaign at Bournemouth, on Sunday.
“You never know how a player will react to being overpriced like that. Maybe it will not even influence him, but the pressure must be enormous.” Braida added.
Big-spending Real Madrid even had to end their interest, after finding themselves unable to compete with United’s financial muscle.
