Real Madrid have agreed personal terms with Manchester United midfielder, Paul Pogba, according to Don Balon. Pogba has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford for most of this summer and has until 5pm on Thursday (today) to leave.
The Red Devils superstar has agreed a five-year deal with Los Blancos, that will see him take home around €17million-a-year, a total which equates to around £300,000-a-week.
United want €170m for Pogba, while Real are not willing going to go past €150m. The Frenchman was arguably the club’s most important player last term, and should they sell him to Real in the coming days, Solskjaer’s side will have very little time to bring in a replacement ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline.
Manchester United have opened talks with Christian Eriksen over a summer move from Tottenham Hotspur, The Independent reports.
The London club would now prefer to sell the 27-year-old in this window in order to bring in longer-term reinforcements such as Bruno Fernandes and Paulo Dybala.
Eriksen's contract is up next year and he does not want to sign a new deal.
He initially only wanted to go to Real Madrid, but they have cooled their interest, leaving United as the only serious bidders.
Spurs will hold out for upwards of £50million for Eriksen.
United are confident of getting a deal over the line, before the transfer window closes at 5pm on Thursday.
Barcelona defender, Gerard Pique, has said any news on Neymar's intention to return to the Camp Nou, will have to come from the Paris Saint-Germain star himself, rather than his former team-mates.
Neymar has been consistently linked with a move back to the Spanish giants this summer.
The Brazilian is keen to leave the Ligue 1 champions, just two years after his world-record €222million move from Barca.
And while Barcelona have made it clear that they believe Neymar is unhappy with PSG, Pique says his friends on the Spanish side will not be offering any private information, about his intentions of making another move.
"Of course I talk to him, but he has to be the one to speak out.
"We have private conversations and I don't think it's correct to talk about them here.
"He's a star on and off the pitch. We hope something will happen.
"He is a great player, who knows the dressing room, the city and the club.
"I am convinced that there are many people [at the club] who were very happy with his output.
"I know that it would be a very complicated operation, that he plays for PSG and that we have a great squad that can challenge for every trophy.
"You already know about my relationship with Ney and we would be happy to have him here [but] he plays for PSG and my opinion doesn't change anything," Pique told a press conference ahead of Barca's friendly with Napoli.
Former Ajax and Real Madrid player Rafael van
der Vaart has said that "it is an ideal time" for Donny van de Beek to
make the move to the Bernabéu.
As talk intensifies linking Donny Van de Beek with a move to Real Madrid
should the club fail to secure Paul Pogba, former Ajax and Madrid
player Rafael van der Vaart has spoken about the prospect of his young
compatriot at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Real Madrid are making every effort to sign
Pogba, while Van de Beek has become the top 'Plan B' option. Here AS
looks at six factors to compare the players.
Yesterday, Donny van de Beek confirmed the reports. “Yes, Real Madrid are interested in me,” the Ajax midfielder told Fox Sports.
Van de Beek is Real Madrid’s ‘Plan B’ should they fail to execute ‘Plan A’: Paul Pogba.
The young Dutch player has been on Madrid’s agenda for some time. But
up to now, all efforts this summer have focused on Pogba, the number one
priority for Zinedine Zidane. Here, AS takes a look at six factors to compare the two Real Madrid targets.
Price/complexity of operation
The first and the most obvious one to look at, of course, is price. While Van de Beek could be picked up for between 50 and 60 million euros, Manchester United are looking for offers from 200 million for Pogba, more than triple the price of the young Dutchman.
Madrid is not willing to pay more than 150 million euros for the French midfielder. But that is still 90-100 million more than what they would have to pay for Van de Beek,
money which could be used to invest in more reinforcements. Ajax coach
Erik Ten Hag has admitted that there is little Ajax can do if Madrid
make a move for him. Thus due to the price difference and the simplicity
of the operation, Van de Beek would be the winner on these factors.
Zinedine Zidane
The demands and conditions Zidane had stipulated upon his return to
Real Madrid have so far been fulfilled, but there is one name that he
has written in capital letters, and that is Paul Pogba. “We know what we want; we are working on it,”
Zidane said when asked about the United player. The French coach’s
standing on Van de Beek is clear, he is a ‘Plan B’. As such, Pogba comes
out as the clear winner of the Zidane factor.
Experience
The differences between both players on this front is more than obvious. Paul Pogba is a World Cup winner, while Van de Beek just made his entrance onto the world footballing stage last season.
The Dutchman has accumulated 139 games for Ajax at the age of 22, while the 26-year-old Frenchman already has 320 games
under his belt for two of Europe’s biggest clubs in Manchester United
and Juventus. While it is true that the Ajax midfielder showed maturity
and capability beyond his age in the Champions League knock-out stages
last year, Pogba wins out on this front.
Profile
One of the biggest musts of a central midfielder at the Santiago Bernabéu is scoring ability.
But between them, all the players who occupied the centre of the field
for Madrid last season scored a total of just 12 goals in LaLiga. Those
numbers are in stark contrast to the 13 goals scored by Pogba (16 in all competitions) and the 9 goals scored by Van de Beek (17 in all competitions).
The profiles of both players is quite different, with Pogba a much
more leisurely player than the pupil of Ten Hag. Pogba has a big
physical presence in the centre of the field, is always a threat in
attack and has a phenomenal shot form distance, as we have seen
throughout his career.
Van de Beek, meanwhile, is a much livelier player who likes
to come forward to join the front line as a supporting attacking
midfielder or even as a second striker. It remains to be seen
if he could fit a formation with two central midfielders or if he would
need two players behind him doing the ‘dirty work’, as Frenkie De Jong and Lasse Schöne did last season.
If we look at it in terms of the profile most required by Madrid, Pogba also wins this battle due to both his goal-scoring ability and physical presence.
Adaptation
In terms of adaption, Pogba wins hands down. He already shares the same mother tongue as the head coach, as well as with Courtois, Varane, Mendy, Hazard and Benzema.
Pogba has already gone through the adaption of playing in another
country twice. Furthermore, he will have one, if not both of his older
brothers close by: Mathias Pogba signed with Spanish third division side
Manchego CD recently, while Florentin Pogba has been offered to Madrid-based second division club Fuenlabrada.
On the other hand, young Van de Beek would be making his first career venture out of his native Holland and would not have the support of a compatriot to help him with his integration into the group.
Media presence
Again Pogba wins on this factor. Pogba is one of the most popular players on social media, which is evident from his 36.7 million followers on Instagram,
a figure well above the 809,000 who follow Van de Beek. The Frenchman
also has experience of playing for Juventus and Man United – clubs that
are heavily under the global media spotlight, much like Real Madrid and
much more so than Ajax.
The jump to Madrid would be much more pronounced for the young Dutchman than for the French international,
who is significantly more accustomed to the trappings of the media. The
media pressure that Madrid players live with is very high and the
ability to cope with it is a fundamental part of the development of any
player at the club.
Sao Paulo have confirmed the signing of former Paris Saint-Germain full-back and Brazil star Dani Alves.
Alves has signed a contract with the Brazilian giants until December 2022, it was announced on Thursday.
The 36-year-old – who first moved to Europe in 2002, joining Sevilla
from Bahia – was a free agent following his PSG departure after two
years with the Ligue 1 champions.
Alves had been linked to former club Barcelona and the Premier
League, however, the veteran has opted to return home to Brazil as he
eyes the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“Daniel Alves is the embodiment of what this management envisions
for Sao Paulo – one of the leading players in the world and recognised
for his immense professionalism, his fierce determination and his
endless thirst for titles and victories,” club president Carlos Augusto de Barros e Silva said in a statement. “He is also a socially engaged citizen and passionate about our country. Sao Paulo, therefore, wins on every possible front. “One day I told Daniel that he would come to play at Sao Paulo, the club of his heart. Today I have the immense joy and pride to have kept that promise.”
Alves captained Brazil to Copa America glory on home soil in July – taking his career haul to 40 trophies.
The veteran’s transfer was announced in a video
on Sao Paulo’s Twitter account, with the defender expressing his
excitement to be back in his native country playing for the club he
supported as a child.
“I could’ve picked any other team to play for,” Alves said. “But I chose to come back to Brazil, to my country, to my people. To the club I love. “It’s unreal, but I’m here!”
Sao Paulo also posted on Twitter that Alves would wear the No. 10 jersey at his new club.
Last week, Alves took to Instagram in a tongue-in-cheek post, asking where he should send his CV as he looked for a new team.
But Alves has now landed back in his home country, where he will play at the club level for the first time in 17 years.
The 26-year-old Frenchman has been heavily linked with a move away from
Old Trafford this summer, with Real Madrid and Juventus reportedly
interested.
Talking to BBC Sport, Schweinsteiger said: “If a player wants to leave the club, you shouldn’t stop him.
“You
need players who are 100% into the club and care about the club, that’s
the only way you can survive at the top level and have success.
“Paul
is a great player, he is just looking for a team where he can play the
same style that he does with the France national team, so if you give
him that kind of team around him, he would be happy at United.”
Schweinsteiger played at Old Trafford for two years, making 18 appearances for the Red Devils.
Varane, whose team's pre-season struggles continued with a 1-0 loss to
Tottenham at the Audi Cup on Tuesday, spoke about the 26-year-old's
future after the game.
"I think we have a team. Pogba is a good player, I know him very well. For any team he would be fantastic.
"I trust my team-mates. If new players come, we'll see. I trust my team-mates," Varane said.
