Paul Pogba: The £100m Man
Is Pogba worth £100m?
With Pogba expected to make his Manchester United debut on Friday night, here is a piece that I wrote a while back whilst the saga was just getting underway.
The Summer’s biggest transfer saga thus far looks close to completion; the return of Paul Pogba from Juventus back to Manchester United Football Club is as costly as it is significant. Rumoured to cost United more than £100m, we ask whether or not Pogba is worth the record transfer fee.
On the face of it, it seems absurd that any player demand such a high transfer fee. £100m could buy most things on this planet; in huge bulk, whether it be several private islands, Aston Villa FC or two Fernando Torres’, there’s certainly a lot one could purchase. It is worth pointing out that over the last several decades, transfer fees have risen astronomically; Gareth Bale’s transfer from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013 is currently the largest fee ever paid; £86m. Prior to that, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have all been involved in hefty transfers. With this in mind, it is difficult to really debate ‘value’ in football anymore. On the one hand, the amount of money is crazy, and could be spent better elsewhere to improve the Manchester United squad. But, for an establishment the size of United, it represents a mere drop in the ocean. The signing of Richard Branson on Tuesday meant that the Red Devils now have at least double the number of official sponsors than any other Premier League team. Further, the club was recorded in the top 5 grossing sporting brands in the World just last week. Make no mistake, not only can Manchester United afford Pogba, they will have change at the end of it.
The players credentials ought not to be debated; at 23 years of age, Pogba has lit up the Italian Serie A consistently over the last several years. Whether it be a trademark stunning strike or a sublime piece of skill, Pogba possesses match winning capabilities which are of short supply in the current Manchester United set up which finished a mere 5th in the BPL under Louis Van Gaal’s abysmal management last tie round. Pogba’s lacklustre performance in the final of the European Championships was perhaps down to Deschamp’s reluctance to play him further up the field. In the closely fought semi final against World champions Germany, Pogba lit up the match with a stunning assist in France’s 2–0 victory. Since the retirement of club legend Paul Scholes, the Red Devils have lacked any world class talent at the heart of the midfield; success under Carrick/Fletcher was principally down to the sheer genius of the attacking talent of Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and co. With Pogba in the team, United possess a genuine goalscoring midfielder which they have missed for several years. Not only does Pogba have immense talent, the transfer represents what could be a very significant statement from the club. The mere fact that Fiorentino Perez and Real Madrid have refused to enter negotiations due to the high cost implies that United now possess the financial mite to compete with anyone in World football.
Is Paul Pogba the best player in the world? No. Can he be the man to fire Manchester United back to the pinnacle of European football? Absolutely.
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