Bartomeu Reveals Failed Barca Bid For Pogba

By Max Wise

President of Spanish champions Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, has revealed that the club failed in a bid to sign Paul Pogba before the Frenchman rejoined Manchester United.

Pogba initially joined Manchester United as a teenager in 2009 from Le Havre but left for Italian giants Juventus three years later after he refused to sign a new contract.

The French world-cup winner spent four successful seasons in Turin before rejoining Manchester United for a then-world record fee of £89m in the summer of 2016.

Pogba will come face-to-face with Barcelona when his Manchester United side host the Spanish champions in the quarterfinal stage of the UEFA champions league on Wednesday, and ahead of the game Bartomeu has revealed that only financial constraints prevented them from signing the Frenchman three years ago.

“In the summer of 2015, Paul Pogba was playing in Turin and we simply told Juve that, if one day they decide to sell the player, we would be interested," Barca president Bartomeu said.

"When they sold the player, they told us what the offer would have to be and we couldn't afford that amount of money at the time.”

"So he went to United, and he's making them better as a team because he's one of the stars of the world of football right now."

Pogba has raised eyebrows over his Manchester United future in recent weeks after revealing that it was every player’s dream to play for Barcelona’s bitterest rivals, Real Madrid, whiles on international duty with France.