Manchester United have made a flying start to this season and it looks like they are finally set to make the jump and become Premier League contenders once again, something they have not been ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired back in 2013.
But in the back of their minds, they will also be wary of losing one of their biggest stars in the upcoming season in the form of Paul Pogba.
At the end of this season, Pogba will have only one year left on his current deal. And it has appeared for years that he has never been completely satisfied with life at Old Trafford. As a result, it is not surprising that there are no indications that he will be extending his stay at the club.
Pogba will be free to walk out for nothing in the summer of 2022. So, Manchester United should be looking to get something out of his departure at the end of this campaign. But they already had the chance to do so, as reported by Calciomercato:
"In April last year, a verbal speech was initiated for potential technical counterparts: United initially rejected the idea of taking one between Douglas Costa or Miralem Pjanic, then ended up at Barcelona in another exchange. Only cash for Pogba, over 100 million, repeated from Manchester. Even as potential pawns Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot popped up for a trade in the following months, Man United kept their wall high. No exchanges, a version repeated with constancy which prevented us from starting a real negotiation. Will Solskjaer be able to ask for the same conditions even in the face of only one year of contract for Pogba? The next few months will tell, Juve will try again …"
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Did Manchester United make a mistake by not letting Pogba leave?
Understandably, Manchester United’s negotiation will be heavily reduced in the summer due to Pogba’s contract situation. But even then, they are expected to be looking for a transfer fee around €60 million although it is questionable whether they will receive a bid that high, especially in the current transfer market.
Thus, the question is, should they have tried to negotiate with Juventus when they had the chance last summer?
Admittedly, none of the players that the Italian giants were offering were valued at anywhere near the €100 million that the Red Devils appeared to have been looking for the French World Cup winner.
Even then, they probably would have managed to get more value out of his departure than they will this summer.