Why Manchester United target Paul Pogba is NOT worth £100million

25 July 2016 10:35

It's almost impossible to avoid the rumours about Paul Pogba's imminent departure from Serie A Champions Juventus. unless you've been living under a rock you'll be aware that it is the most talked about transfer in years.

Following the end of EURO 2016 the rumours have started to pick up even more pace with some media outlets even reporting that it was a done deal at one point.

Despite many conflicting reports being published everyday, perhaps the most consistent element of the transfer that is being reported is the fee. It is often being cited that this transfer will break the world record set by Gareth Bale's switch to Real Madrid from Tottenham in 2013.

The club who look the most likely to land Pogba's signature is Manchester United, the club that released him as a youth player just three years ago. Real Madrid are also interest but have reportedly been priced out by the Red Devils, but if you ask me Pogba is worth nowhere near the £100million plus that Man United are willing to play.

Don't get me wrong, Pogba is a fantastic player but is he really worth that sort of money? Let's look into it.

For that sort of money you'd expect the player to be one of the best in the world and have the ability to change games purely by their skill. Pogba, as a midfielder, would find that much harder to do than someone like Messi or Ronaldo.

Pogba may be gifted with the ball at his feet, but there's no way that he can fill his holding midfielder role as well as score a hat-trick change a game.

But don't take it from me, Manchester United Legend Paul Scholes weighed in on the issue and said “I just don’t think he is worth £86m. For that sort of money, you want someone who is going to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere worth that kind of money yet.”

If that hasn't convinced you then let's look a the stats. Last season Paul Pogba scored 8 goals and assisted a further 12. Not fantastic but for a midfielder it's also not bad. However those stats don't tell the whole story of how well a holding midfielder played. He also created 54 chances and made 55 tackles in his 52 games last season. Bare in mind that is apparently the stats of a man worth £100 million.

That statement seems all the more true when you compare Pogba to someone who cost nothing, James Milner. The Liverpool man made 53 tackles, created 61 chances, scored 5 and assured his team mates 11 times. Those stats aren't a million miles away from Pogba's and Milner played 18 fewer games than the Frenchman last season.

Pogba may be younger but I only see that as yet another reason that the fee is unjustified. In American sports it is seen as a good thing when a player has played in a team that has failed at some point in their career. Yet for some reason in football we put young players who have done nothing but win on a pedestal.

This kind of immaturity will show when things start to get hard at United which, in true Mourinho fashion, will happen at some point during his third season.

The real question that looms is "is any player really worth £100million?" And I'd have to say that we are in a new era of football. 20 years ago *£15million got you Alan Shearer but now the same figure gets you Jordon Ibe.

The new Premier League TV deal has inflated the market and as former Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce said "players that were once worth £10million are now worth £20million and player that were worth £20million are now worth £40million".

Paul Pogba may be a fantastic player but he's not worth £100 million, not in this market and not in any market.

Source: DSG