Could Paul Pogba team up with Antonio Conte at Inter?
That’s the big question being asked by Monday’s Gazzetta dello Sport, who talk to four experts about their views on the matter.
We won’t cover them, because, let’s be honest, none of you really care, but what we will cover is the feasibility of the Manchester United midfielder leaving in the summer.
The Italian newspaper have a look at that too, in a separate article, and the bottom line is: it seems unlikely.
Even if Gazzetta seem fairly convinced the Covid-19 pandemic has made the Frenchman’s price on the market drop, a club would still need to pay Manchester United around €70m for his services if the Premier League side refuse to include players in the deal.
Add on top of that the player’s wages, which they believe would cost around €30m/year before tax, making it a gross outlay of €150m for the next five years (the contract he would want).
In total, any club willing to buy Pogba would be looking at €220m overall, admittedly spread over a long period of time.
It’s still a considerable investment, especially since Gazzetta state it would be ‘unlikely’ for the United star to ask for lower wages than what he is currently on.
That makes a move to most Italian clubs highly unlikely, even if Juventus ‘look to his return with great realism’, and while Inter have been making big moves over the past year or so, they have a current salary cap of €7.5m/year after tax, which Pogba would eclipse.
As they say, for most big clubs, ‘Pogba is a nice project, but at the right time’, and this summer isn’t it.
That likely stands for Real Madrid, too.
