Do Manchester United or Real Madrid offer the best option for this £100m man?

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Off the back of a remarkably successful European Championships for his home country, in which he was instrumental, it is decision time for Paul Pogba. With a host of the world’s biggest clubs after him, Paul Pogba will decide where his future lies in the coming weeks.

Few players could ever consider leaving Juventus, one of the world’s biggest clubs, Champions League finalists last year and Serie A champions for the last five years in a row. It is a sign of the changing times in football as fewer and fewer of the world’s biggest talents remain in Italy, let alone actively seek a move there at the peak of their careers.

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With Real Madrid, Pogba has the opportunity to become the next Galactico. Florentino Perez is no stranger to spending big on a star player, and that would have to be the case if Pogba is to move to the Bernabeu.

In terms of competition, it is hard to argue against a move to Madrid. The Champions League winners had a poor season last year in the league, and yet still finished as runners-up in La Liga with their 11th Champions League title to boot. If Pogba favours a move to Old Trafford, he would not even be competing in the Champions League, let alone playing for a side who will be fighting to win it.

There is also the Zinedine Zidane factor. An exciting French midfielder looking for a move away from Juventus to one of the world’s biggest clubs – remind you of anyone? According to Spanish newspaper AS, the Zidane influence could have a major impact on Pogba’s future.

There are only two real negatives regarding a move to Spain for Paul Pogba: that he would not be paid as much as he may be paid in Manchester should United decide to go all out to convince him to join Jose Mourinho and co., and that it is hard to see where he fits at the Bernabeu. With Madrid already having two similar style midfielders in Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, it seems that one would be forced to the bench, or even out of the club, or a change of style and formation would be necessary.

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On the other hand, latest reports claim that the Spanish club could be priced out of the move by Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Whilst persuading Pogba to join with financial incentives would be a remarkable achievement, you do have to question how worthwhile it would be. With rumours suggesting that he would become United’s best paid player with a fee of at least £85 million paid to sign him, it would represent a massive economic outlay.

All of this spending will be for a player who left on a free a few years ago, unhappy at how Old Trafford bosses treated him at the time. It is hard to see how Pogba would favour a move to Manchester for footballing reasons, with United struggling in recent years, and any such move would have to be partly thanks to financial motivation.

There will be the exciting opportunity to be at the heart of Jose Mourinho’s revolution and rebuild of the Red Devils, which may promise likely success in the long term. Pogba would have to make short term sacrifices such as missing out on titles and Champions League competition for one season at the very least, but this may be looked upon as worth the wait.

The offer of having a side built around him is likely to impress Pogba, and working alongside one of the world’s most respected bosses will excite him, but with reports claiming that he would prefer a move to Spain, the move may be with a degree of reluctance.

It seems that a move to Real Madrid would clearly be the far better option for Pogba in terms of a short term footballing view point. However, with money becoming an increasingly important aspect of the transfer market and persuading big players to move, Real Madrid may well be priced out of any such move, and Manchester United could well be the only option for the French midfielder.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Federico Ceverchia.