Pogba surprised with his statements on Thursday at a press conference. “All players dream of playing for Real Madrid. Zidane's interest? Many things have been said about it. Yes, of course, all footballers would love to play for Real Madrid. It may be a dream. I'm not going to deny that it would be a dream for me to play there one day. ” A strange SOS that the French star sent once Madrid has closed and that the name of Camavinga (and for Madrid, that of Mbappé) seem to be far above his. That message of help will not have a response from Madrid, which today has completely ruled out his signing.
Madrid considers Mbappé's operation a priority, of course. On that roadmap, the signing of Camavinga in 2021 and, in 2022, Haaland, when Benzema ends his contract, will also be tried. As for Pogbna's situation, he ends with United in 2021 but the entity can be renewed one more year unilaterally. And he charges 15 million euros net, too much for a midfielder according to Madrid's salary scale.
All in all, as you can read below, Pogba has been close to signing for Madrid three times. These are.
Summer 2016.
Real Madrid was negotiating with Juventus de Turin and with Raiola the incorporation of the player, that he was the man around whom Zidane wanted to build his first project that started from scratch in charge of Madrid. At that time, although the player's wish was to wear the Madrid shirt, His high financial claims and those of his agent ruined the operation. The figures that United agreed on were later known through the Football Leaks papers released by Dier Spiegel: United paid Juve 105 million and Raiola 40 million. It was not strictly a commission, his percentage was signed by contract when he brought him free from United to Juve in the summer of 2012.
Summer 2019
In that period there was a new attempt by Real Madrid to please Zidane's wish. But the negotiations were affected by that bad relationship that remained between Florentino and Raiola in the summer of 2016. The figures did not end up adding up either and Real Madrid had already spent a lot of money on young people like Vinicius Y Rodrygo, 45 and 40 million respectively and, above all, in Hazard (100 million, the galactic corner piece around which to make a new project after a season without titles. And that Pogba put a lot on his part when, just after the season, he put it away with some statements: “It is time to start a new challenge,” he said without hesitation.
Summer 2020
He had to be the one who made the saying “the third time the charm” good. The situation was once again unbeatable to sign the Frenchman, with Modric in the final stretch of his career and Zidane betting on a more back and forth and less elaborate football that needs muscle in the center of the field. United could extend (and will do so in December) for another year the contract that expires in 2021, but it was the perfect time to leave. The normal thing, even, is that instead of exercising that clause it ends up renewing it to prevent it from going free a couple of years later. Raiola's relationship with Solskjaer was at its worst. Pogba had met Zidane in Dubai shortly before and they were able to talk … But the economic crisis due to the coronavirus once again knocked down any possibility of his coming … And now it is impossible.