Manchester United have called a truce in the war with Paul Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola, according to The Mirror.
Relations between United’s executive vice chairman Ed Woodward and Raiola were reported to have completely broken down after the agent made a number of inflammatory and unnecessary comments about the club and Pogba’s future.
Tensions started to rise in December, when Raiola accused United of being ‘more concerned about the economic part than the sports part’ and of ‘lacking an identity’.
‘Now Pogba’s problem is Manchester. It is a club out of reality, without a sports project’ the agent said in the run-up to Christmas.
‘Today I would no longer take anyone there, they would also ruin Maradona, Pelé and Maldini. Paul needs a team and a club, one like Juventus.’
The former pizza chef has fanned the flames of the row repeatedly since, saying Pogba would ‘like to come back to Juventus’ but that he ‘can’t escape’ United.
As recently as three days ago Raiola was hitting the headlines again in Spain, promising to bring Real Madrid ‘a great player’ this summer – a thinly disguised reference to the Frenchman.
But now, The Mirror claims that Pogba himself has intervened in the war of words and has asked Raiola ‘to be less confrontational as both parties try to find a way forward over his future.’
‘It’s thought a peace-pact has been struck with Woodward now hoping Pogba’s agent stops his public attacks on United’ the outlet claims, citing ‘a highly-placed Old Trafford source’.
With Juventus looking increasingly less likely to be able to afford either Pogba’s transfer fee or wage demands, at present the most likely outcomes to this drawn-out saga would be either a switch to Real Madrid or an extension of the 27-year-old’s Old Trafford contract.
The fact that Woodward and Raiola are talking again makes the latter appear a much more realistic possibility than it did just a few days ago.
