“They’re bluffing” — Paul Pogba accuses Man Utd of not handing him a financially acceptable contract offer
Paul Pogba has hit out at Manchester United for not offering him a financially acceptable contract offer as the Frenchman prepares to leave the club at the end of this month upon the expiration of his current deal.
It was confirmed at the start of this month by Man Utd that Pogba will depart the club this summer, bringing an end to his six-year return to Old Trafford, in which the 29-year-old never truly vindicated the £89.3m fee paid to Juventus for his services.
Speculation about his future dominated the narrative last season as contract negotiations rumbled on, but an agreement between both parties ultimately couldn’t be reached — and now the World Cup winner will be turning out for a new club in 2022/23.
In light of his confirmed exit, Pogba has now been filmed accusing the club of presenting him a derisory contract offer to keep him at the club beyond this summer. In a preview of ‘The Pogmentary’, as viewed by The Athletic, Pogba was captured complaining about Man Utd’s contract terms last summer, believed to be in the region of £300,000-a-week.
“Did Manchester (United) make a second offer?” Pogba asks his late agent, Mino Raiola.
“Yes,” Raiola replies. “They absolutely want you to stay. For me, the offer doesn’t reflect that. I told them, ‘If you want him to stay, don’t make that offer’. I will make them understand that if they really want you to stay and they want to build a project around you, this time they have to act differently and put the money on the table.”
“They’re bluffing,” Pogba says. “How can you tell a player you absolutely want him and offer him nothing? Never seen that.”
Pogba’s last match for Man Utd will be that 4-0 capitulation at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield in mid-April, a game in which he sustained a calf injury which ultimately rendered him unavailable for the rest of the campaign.
In what proved a largely injury-hit final season for Pogba at Old Trafford, his career in the North West ended with a whimper as the club went the campaign trophyless and finished with their lowest-ever points tally in Premier League history, just about scraping sixth and Europa League football.
