Gossip: Man Utd deal to sell Pogba scuppered by PSG star

Ian Watson
Paul Pogba Manchester United

WHY POGBA’S PSG DEAL FELL THROUGH…
For all the talk of Real Madrid, it seems the closest Paul Pogba came to leaving Manchester United in the summer was a move elsewhere. If it wasn’t for Neymar, Pogba might be Paris Saint-Germain’s problem right now…

According to Calciomercato, PSG had a deal agreed with Pogba and, crucially, United. It is not clear what fee the Red Devils might have recouped for their £89million record signing but Pogba stood to rake in £429,000 a week at the Parc des Princes.

So why is he still stranded at Old Trafford? Because neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona could get their sh*t together to give Neymar a move he craved as every bit as much as Pogba wanted to get away from United. If either of the Spanish giants had landed the Brazilian, presumably Pogba was intended to be used as PSG’s show of force in the face of losing their most recognisable star.

 

SPURS EYE DYBALA PART-EX DEAL
All the while Real Madrid faffed over Pogba, they kept Christian Eriksen dangling on a string. The Tottenham playmaker would have taken either Madrid side but no offers were forthcoming, leaving the Dane in north London waiting for his contract to run down next summer.

That prospect probably keeps Daniel Levy awake at night but the Spurs chairman may have a cunning plan. Tuttosport reckons Spurs could use Eriksen as a makeweight to resurrect a deal to sign Paulo Dybala from Juventus in January.

Presumably Levy would have to stuff Eriksen’s pockets full of cash to take to Turin since the 27-year-old would be six months from free agency while Dybala was valued at around £70million during a summer Spurs, Manchester United and PSG all made attempts to sign the Argentina forward.

 

SPORTING PLOT FUTURE FOR FERNANDES
Another playmaker Spurs were linked with during the summer is Bruno Fernandes. The Portugal midfielder was eyed by seemingly every big club on the continent during the summer but none made a convincing offer to Sporting Lisbon.

A Bola (via our friends at Sport Witness) reckons Sporting remain keen to cash in on Fernandes at the earliest opportunity. Apparently, they will sell for £62million, which is a similar figure to that which was thrown around in the summer.

In the meantime,  Sporting are said to be willing to offer Fernandes a pay-rise. But not as much as some of his suitors could. Tottenham were reported to be willing to more than double his €1.5million a year salary, but Sporting can only offer him an extra €500k a year while they wait for one of the bog boys to cough up.

 

AND THE REST
Real Madrid and Chelsea have an agreement whereby the Blues would inform Real should they receive any offers for N’Golo Kante… Chelsea loanee Victor Moses isn’t likely to join Fenerbahce permanently… Everton rejected an offer from Borussia Dortmund for Anthony Gordon.