Pogba has once more been linked this week with a summer move to Real Madrid or former club Juventus after it was alleged that the Frenchman has informed teammates he is ready to leave, while the ‘majority’ of those colleagues believe it is in the club’s best interest to let him go.
26-year-old Pogba has only featured eight times in all competitions so far this season as a result of injuries. That has led some to question the player’s commitment, although it has been equally been suggested that both times his injuries were made worse when he actively played in pain.
The Sun now claims that Pogba has been given the ‘green light’ to leave United, with the club supposedly prepared to accept £150m (€177m) in order to part company. That is less than the £180m (€212m) the tabloid newspaper claims they would have accepted last summer.
The Sun further claims that United ‘accept’ that the ongoing speculation surrounding Pogba is having a ‘detrimental effect’ as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer attempts to build his new squad.
The Daily Star looks to feed transfer claims even more by framing Pogba’s absence from a warm-weather training camp in Spain as the ‘clearest sign yet’ that he could leave the club.
The first-team squad will depart for Marbella on Friday, but Pogba will not be with them. The Star writes as though he has been actively excluded by Solskjaer, although the report also concedes that the player is not yet fit enough to train after undergoing ankle surgery last month.
It is said that Solskjaer is ‘reluctant’ to have Pogba around the team, but no reason – whether it be his inability to train and take part, or something more sinister – is given as to why and the absence of that invites the reader to jump to certain conclusions.
It has been a favourite media narrative to increasingly paint him as a divisive figure and troublemaker, albeit seemingly with little genuine evidence to support such a claim. Such a viewpoint has unfortunately been fed by his continued absence from action.
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Source : 90min