MANCHESTER UNITED on Tuesday made an opening bid of £85 million for Paul Pogba which could spark the biggest transfer in football history.
Paul Pogba is edging closer to a return to Manchester United return
United have been tracking the France and Juventus midfielder for several months and are prepared to break the bank to sign him.
Juve are expected to reject the first bid even though United executive vice chairman Ed Woodward has already agreed personal terms with Pogba.
The 23-year-old has been offered a long-term deal worth £280,000-a-week that would make him one of the highest paid stars in European football.
United officials are expected to meet Juve directors and Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola this week in a bid to thrash out a deal.
The Italian champions want Pogba to tell them he wants to leave before agreeing to a sale and will then demand up to £100m for their prize asset.
That would break the £86m world record fee Real Madrid paid Spurs for Gareth Bale three years ago.
Pogba is on holiday after reaching the final of Euro 2016 with hosts France and is not set to return to Turin until August 6.
New United manager Jose Mourinho has told Woodward to do everything in his power to bring Pogba back to Old Trafford.
Woodward has already dealt with Raiola over the recent signings of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and is confident of landing Pogba too.
Pogba left United in 2012 on a free transfer when then boss Sir Alex Ferguson refused to meet his wage demands.
But it proved to be a catastrophic mistake when Pogba went on to become one of the world’s best midfielders who will now command wages that are 15 times more than what he earned at Old Trafford previously.
As they headed to China for their pre-season tour, it will come as huge disappointment to Manchester United’s huge fan base in China that the Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic has not been included in Mourinho’s 25-man squad.
United officials declined to give an official reason for his absence but it is understood that the 34-year-old has been given an extended break, even though it is nearly a month since Sweden exited at the group stage of the Euro 2016.
Quite apart from the fans, United’s sponsors and burgeoning commercial department will be frustrated that the club’s marquee new signing and most marketable player is missing.
During his holiday in the US, Ibrahimovic posted a picture on his Instagram account of him running on a treadmill with the message “I don’t need to stay in shape because I am in shape”
Clearly not in shape enough however for 10 days in the humidity of the Far East.
The first sight of Ibrahimovic in a United shirt is likely to come, rather aptly, in his native Sweden on July 30 when they play Turkish side Galatasaray in Gothenburg in their fourth warm-up game, although Gary Neville has joked it could be against his Salford City team when they take on a United XI at Moor Lane on July 26.
England trio Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling and Marcus Rashford, just back from three weeks off to get over their Euros failure, are in the squad, although Mourinho insists they will not be fit enough to play against either Borussia Dortmund on Friday in Shanghai or Manchester City in Beijing on Monday.
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