Pogba cost continues to rise

Paul Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United or Real Madrid is now very likely, but Juventus and Mino Raiola are squeezing out every Euro.

Juve are already moving on from Pogba and have promised Napoli they’ll pay the full €94.7m release clause for Gonzalo Higuain, making that the second most expensive transfer in history.

Paul Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United or Real Madrid is now very likely, but Juventus and Mino Raiola are squeezing out every Euro.

Juve are already moving on from Pogba and have promised Napoli they’ll pay the full €94.7m release clause for Gonzalo Higuain, making that the second most expensive transfer in history.

That implies they’ll be spending the Pogba cash, but the Sunday World newspaper points out there are still some big problems when it comes to Manchester United.

Not only are Real Madrid trying to intervene with a last-ditch offer to match the fee, but there are numerous bonuses still being negotiated.

Juventus are adamant the €120m fee must not include the €20m commission owed to agent Raiola, so in fact this move would cost Manchester United at least €140m.

The image rights are also proving to be an issue, especially as they’ve been “the subject of legal conjecture over the last 12 months as he battled to win them back from a Luxembourg-based company,” writes the Sunday World.

The combined image rights will eventually cost around €30m, though they could be spread out over his wages as bonuses, bringing the salary up to €20m per year.

Manchester United are eager to own the image rights so they can farm out Pogba’s many Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers to sponsors.