Real Madrid to meet with Pogba's agent on Tuesday
Sky Italia say the two sides will sit down next week to discuss the player’s possible salary. Real Madrid are prepared to off €8m per season, but Pogba is reported to want €12m.
Real Madrid have taken their first steps towards signing Paul Pogba. According to Sky Sports Italia, the French player’s agent – Mino Raiola – will meet up with Madrid’s director general, José Ángel Sánchez in Monaco on Tuesday.
Salary talks
The encounter has been set up to discuss various matters surrounding the midfielder’s possible switch from Juventus to the Bernabéu. To start with, his salary – something the two parties didn’t see eye to eye on in their first meeting. Los Blancos have suggested a figure of around €8 million per season, not including bonuses, and a contract stretching over five years, report Sky. But it’s said that Pogba and his agent were thinking of something significantly more lofty: between 12 and 13 million euros.
Such negotiations will only be the first in a series of hurdles, but a solution could be found through a compromise of, say, €10m per season. That would bring Pogba into the same pay bracket as Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale (when he amplifies his contact after the Euros), but well under the €20.5m a year Cristiano Ronaldo. Pogba – who starred in France’s 2-1 win over Romania on Friday night – currently earns €4.5m at Juventus, the same as Álvaro Morata.
The fact that Real Madrid have maneuvered to talk directly to the player and his agent before negotiating directly with the target’s club is nothing special in terms of their pursuit of potential star signings. It’s the way they usually do it: sitting down with the player and feeling him out before approaching the other side.
Juve and Real yet to sit down
Juventus and Real are yet to have their own conversation over Pogba, but the news coming out of Turin is that the Bianconero want a transfer record of €120 million to take him off their hands. If and when negotiations do begin, Beppe Marotta (Juve’s general director) will remind Real Madrid of the words of Raiola, Pogba’s agent: “If you want a Mona Lisa and there’s only one, you’ll have to pay a hefty sum.”