The Frenchman is back in Turin after the blitz in Jeddah over the weekend: Al Ahli wants him, who first want to check his physical conditions
Paul Pogba showed up at Caselle airport yesterday morning. A decidedly Arab-like look, complete with a red keffiyeh on the head. Leftovers from a couple of days’ blitz in Jeddah, justified by personal reasons, including a visit to Mecca, always a welcome destination for a fervent Islamic like the French. In reality, however, the “trip out of town” also hides professional reasons. The Octopus was able to see with his own eyes the city that could soon become his new home. Because beyond the denials, the rich Arab offer is there.
the situation
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Despite the first rumors, the club that is building golden bridges to bring Pogba to the Middle East is not Al Ittihad, but Al Ahli, which last week added a certain Roberto Firmino to the team. We are still in Jeddah and we are always talking about an offer to the player of 100 million euros plus bonuses for three years. All set, even if Al Ahli would like to wait to verify Paul’s condition before putting pen to paper the proposal, which has already been verbally illustrated to Pogba’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta. In short, don’t rush and let’s see how Octopus is doing first, back from an unfortunate season with just 161′ on the pitch. Furthermore, the Frenchman is not yet convinced of giving up Juventus and football that counts. Inside him there is still the desire for revenge after the last few disappointing and unfortunate years.
the Lady
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And then there is still to be negotiated with the interested third party, Juve. That just a year ago had made Pogba sign a four-year contract worth 8 million net per season plus two bonuses. Even in these days, the Juventus club wants to understand what the plans and motivations of the Octopus are. If the midfielder made it clear that he wanted to accept the Arab court, Juve would not block. But at the same time, he would try not to free Pogba to zero. An indemnity of around 10 million would be the request from Al Ahli. Ten million which would be pure capital gain, given that the Frenchman arrived from Manchester United on a free transfer in 2022. To add, then, to the savings on his salary, which net is the highest in the squad available to Max Allegri.
in the median
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It is clear that Pogba’s farewell would free up a slot of a certain weight in Juve’s midfield, waiting for Cristiano Giuntoli and Giovanni Manna to also be able to finalize the transfers of redundancies in the department such as Denis Zakaria and Weston McKennie (the situation of the Brazilian Arthur, who still likes Wolverhampton). At that point, the bianconeri would have the resources for an interesting entry in the midfield. The first name on the list, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, practically disappeared, the Continassa transfer market team began to think about the alternatives, keeping in mind that everything, let’s repeat it, passes first from the transfers. A profile that Giuntoli has liked for some time, so much so that he probed him a few years ago for Napoli, is that of Teun Koopmeiners, who in the meantime has become a pillar of Gian Piero Gasperini’s midfield at Atalanta. A first informative chat with the agent has already taken place, but without going into detail. Also because it would be necessary to deal with the DEA, which starts from a valuation base of around 35-40 million euros. Juve is also keeping an eye on the situation of two former Serie A players, who are not doing very well in La Liga: Franck Kessie, considered a luxury reserve at Barcelona, and Rodrigo de Paul, now on course with Simeone at Atletico Madrid and also sought in the past by the Lady. The idea “à la Giuntoli” is instead represented by the nineteen-year-old Habib Diarra, an emerging star from Strasbourg, who surprised everyone in the last Ligue 1.
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