Inter director Beppe Marotta reveals the best deal of his career was Juventus selling Paul Pogba to Manchester United for ‘the biggest real profit football has ever seen.’
At that time, Marotta was in charge of Juventus transfer strategy and picked up young midfielder Pogba as a free agent from Manchester United in 2012.
Only four years later, the same player was sold back to his original club for €105m plus bonuses, all of it pure profit.
“The year we sold Pogba for €105m plus €10m in bonuses and brought in Gonzalo Higuain was my best deal,” said Marotta during an event in Rimini for the official opening of the transfer market in Italy.
“That was the biggest operation, especially as we had signed Pogba for free, so that became the biggest real profit that football has ever seen.”
Pogba’s contract with Manchester United is set to expire in June 2022, so the Old Trafford club run the genuine risk of losing him for free yet again.
The 28-year-old France international has been linked with Real Madrid, PSG and a return to Juventus.
Marotta is now at the helm of Scudetto winners Inter and was also asked about the current post-pandemic situation in the transfer market.
“In the old days there were Silvio Berlusconi, Massimo Moratti or Franco Sensi whose only objective was to win, and keeping the books balanced was secondary.
“Now the situation is overturned, it’s more of a business model. The Zhang family invested €600m for Inter, but after the COVID crisis, we too have to put the business aspect first.”