All through the summer, as the Paul Pogba saga unfolded, press friendly to Real Madrid went roughly with the following line: Manchester United are only getting the chance to sign Paul Pogba because Real Madrid have passed the opportunity up.
Jose Felix Diaz says the Spanish club have ruled out the signing on purely sporting matters, explaining there had been interest but that was killed by Euro 2016.
Marca explain that Real Madrid could have afforded the high prices, and competed with Manchester United, but simply decided they didn’t want to.’
So, let’s get this right. Marca said in July it was ‘purely sporting matters’ and nothing to do with money.
Jump forward to October, after four consecutive Real Madrid draws, and things change. Tuesday’s edition of Marca has a section on page 6 detailing ‘Opciones fallidas’ – failed operations.
Chief among them is Paul Pogba, with it being stated: ‘Pogba was the priority of Zidane, but the bidding rose to €120m and in the end United got his services.’
Marca’s figure seems a little high, with the £89m figure more widely used.
A few more draws, and if Pogba progresses at Manchester United, and it may well change to angry Marca headlines like: WHY DIDN’T REAL MADRID SIGN PAUL POGBA?
