‘Today is the day’.
That is how Corriere dello Sport label their big article on Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and his impending move back to Juventus, where he will team up once again with Max Allegri.
Spending his best years of his career at the Serie A club before his huge transfer to the Red Devils, the Frenchman is hoping to recapture that feeling in Turin and get his career back on track following what has been a disappointing spell overall in England.
The newspaper explain that a meeting is between Pogba’s agent and Juventus on Monday ‘to define the final details’ of a contract expected to be for three years, although there ‘may be an option for a fourth’ at around €7.5m/year.
Expected to be the ‘first big move’ of Juventus this summer, ‘only the official status is missing’ and ‘the finishing line is there, ready to be crossed’.
Pogba is said to be ‘determined’ to re-tie the knot with his old club, and ‘unless there are twists and turns that are not even conceivable at the moment’, it will get done.
‘Everything is ready’ for the meeting with Rafaela Pimenta, who took over from Mino Raiola after the agent’s untimely death, and ‘it is simply a matter of putting every step of the agreement in order and crossing the finishing line’.
However, he isn’t the only player expected to leave Manchester United’s squad in the near future and head to Italy, with both Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport pushing the line that Nemanja Matić is heading to AS Roma to reunite with José Mourinho.
The former of the two outlets explain the manager ‘called’ the Serbian and ‘they will be in the same club for the third time’ after spells at Old Trafford and Chelsea together.
The idea here is that ‘he will sign for a year at €4.2m/year with an option for a renewal’ following a chat with Mourinho, which made him ‘virtually pack his bags’.
The contract is reportedly €3.6m/year in fixed salary with bonuses to take it to the aforementioned €4.2m, ‘with the easy possibility of an extension’, but if Roma don’t make it in the Champions League, this would see ‘the salary slightly revised downwards’.
Corriere dello Sport have similar numbers, and add the Manchester United midfielder ‘will undergo medical examinations within the week’, and it is ‘only a matter of hours’ before the move is made official.
Over at Old Trafford, meanwhile, that will be seen as two big salaries off the wage bill to help Erik ten Hag’s rebuild going forward.
