Mino Raiola reveals he never wanted Paul Pogba to join Juventus and pushed for Manchester United because “they needed us the most.”
Pogba left Old Trafford as a free agent in 2012 and signed for the Bianconeri, moving back to his former club for a world transfer record €105m plus €5m bonuses.
“You need to have big balls to complete a world record transfer and Jose Mourinho has those balls,” agent Raiola told The Daily Mail in England.
Mino Raiola reveals he never wanted Paul Pogba to join Juventus and pushed for Manchester United because “they needed us the most.”
Pogba left Old Trafford as a free agent in 2012 and signed for the Bianconeri, moving back to his former club for a world transfer record €105m plus €5m bonuses.
“You need to have big balls to complete a world record transfer and Jose Mourinho has those balls,” agent Raiola told The Daily Mail in England.
“It’s not just a case of spending the money. It’s shouldering the responsibility of spending that money and saying, ‘Yes, this is my man’. Arsenal have the money but do they have the balls?
“I respect Arsene Wenger. He has a philosophy that says these figures don’t match what I want to do, so that’s OK.”
Pogba was also wanted by top level clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
“Real Madrid? The will of Zinedine Zidane was strong but we were not sure it was the will of the club.
“Yet I think Manchester United showed the world this summer that they were not going to stand still, they want to be the best. They sent out a message with the transfers they did that this is the biggest club in the world.
“I always say to my players we go where we are needed. United will always be one of the biggest clubs in the world whether by reputation or balance sheet.
“Yes, Manchester United had no Champions League and weren’t champions but they needed us the most. United had been talking to us for two years about Pogba. They had taken my player Sergio Romero and we had kept the lines of communication open.
“We knew we had interest, we spoke to Juventus, they really wanted to try for the Champions League, they gave him the No 10 shirt and we said we would give it one more year.
“Then I worked on an exit plan. We had two offers from the Premier League and two outside. Paul said United was in his heart, Woodward wanted him at United a year ago and (Jose) Mourinho had wanted him at Chelsea too, so when the two combined we knew it was right.
“For the player, Real Madrid would have been easier, La Liga, Champions League, but he wanted the greater challenge.”
Yet the shine on Pogba’s comeback has already dimmed with a series of disappointing performances, culminating in three consecutive defeats between the Premier League and Europa League.
“It’s true Pogba is not playing his best yet, he is taking time to adjust but people don’t always see the bigger picture. He will dominate for 10 years. He is United’s lost son,” assured Raiola.
“Sometimes it is better to lose because you realise you are not what you thought. I still think United will win the league though as they now have the quality.”
The agent revealed he had never really wanted Pogba to join Juventus in the first place when he left Manchester United in 2012.
“Moving in 2012 was a necessary step because Paul wouldn’t have progressed the way he did otherwise. I still believe the value of Paul today confirms I was right to do what I did. (Alex Ferguson and I) had different ideas of where Paul was.
“Maybe it’s just as well he didn’t like me because then he would have slapped me. What people don’t realise is that I did everything to try and persuade Paul not to go to Juventus.
“Serie A clubs were not known for developing young players at the time. The last had been Paolo Maldini at Milan in 1985. I didn’t think it was right.
“So three months down the line, he is at Juventus and I said we started a bad relationship here, everything I say you don’t listen to me and Paul just said, ‘It’s not that I don’t listen, it is just everything I have done in life, I have done the hard way. I want to do it the hard way’.
“Similarly, this time when it was about returning to United, he knew there was no Champions League and it was the greater challenge. Paul Pogba doesn’t give up.
“One thing I see though is that Mr Ferguson was made a Sir — maybe I too should be a “Sir’’ for bringing Paul back!”