So with no football to talk about (for the time being at least) lets revisit this persistent rumour and discuss the obvious, no not if its realistic, but if it's a good or bad move, and more importantly, who benefits the most?
THE GOOD :
Lets start off on the positive side, Juventus fans have been clamouring for a big name signing in midfield for several years now. Whilst the signings of Aaron Ramsey & Adrien Rabiot got pulses slightly racing last summer, an injury prone 'Gooner' & an unwanted Rabiot weren't exactly high on Bianconeri fan's wish list. So doe's Paul Pogba fit the bill of a 'big name signing'? Sure, of course he does. Along with a heavy dose of nostalgia from when Juventus had a complete midfield. But is he what Juventus currently need? Well, when it comes to talent he is certainly better than whats currently available, in fact he would walk into the old lady's midfield. Pogba is also familiar with the surroundings of Juventus, as he once played in the black & white stripes almost five years ago. But is he the same player that Juventus fan's once cheered for? Or is he something else completely?
POTENTIALLY SOLVES MIDFIELD PROBLEM :
Pogba without a shadow of a doubt is a big name signing, and one of the most known players in football. There can also be no argument that he walks into the current Juventus midfield without much effort (Sorry Khedira), but could he lead it? Pogba's best years were spent with two of Pirlo, Marchisio or Vidal beside him in a three man midfield. The idea being that Pogba works best when he is free to go forward with little defensive duties, the problem arrives however when you look at the current batch of midfielders that can contribute to the team defensively. Ramsey? Rabiot? Nope, Khedira? Sorry, doesn't have the legs, Matuidi? Sure, Pjanic? nope, unless it involves a pass back to the defence. Which leaves us with Bentancur, a talented 22 year old midfielder who has yet to fully establish himself into the starting 11 since joining the club, but the Uruguayan can, when called upon help out with the defensive side of the game. Can you see Pogba being a game changer alongside any of those names? Didn't think so, which means a bit of wheeling and dealing would need to be done to ensure that the club gets the best out of Pogba. But could Juventus financially pull that off?
COMMERCIAL VALUE :
Ok I know, football is played on the pitch and few (if any) fans care about a players value away from the pitch, but a football club most certainly does. In fact, its part of the reason that Manchester United came calling for pogBACK (sound familiar?). Pogba has a sponsorship deal with Adidas, who are the current shirt manufacturers for Juventus, a deal that is worth £31m, so you can see the appeal of why Adidas would want to see Pogba playing for one of 'their clubs'. Pogba also has a large presence on social media, with over 40 million followers of his Instagram account. Again, this doesn't mean anything to the average football fan, but when it comes to getting your clubs name 'out there' in the social media world, there's no better way to do it than by signing a player that has an established social media presence, just look at some of benefits that signing Cristiano Ronaldo had on Juventus social media accounts. Expect more of the same if Pogba returned to Turin.
THE BAD :
LONG TERM INJURY
Paul Pogba's name hasn't been far away from the news this season, but for all the wrong reasons. Pogba began the current season as first team regular for Manchester United, no surprise there, and registered two assist's in their opening game against Frank Lampard's Chelsea. So far, so good. However, from then on it all began to go downhill for Manchester United, as well as pogba, as the Frenchman suffered an ankle injury 4 games into the season. And since then it's been a guessing game of not only when, but if Man Utd fans would see Pogba regularly touch a ball again at Old Trafford, as the signals being sent out from Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær were mixed at best.
SEPTEMBER 2019 : "He (Pogba) twisted his ankle, I think, but he'll go away and hopefully it's not too bad and he can play for France because I know how much he loves his country and playing for them."
OCTOBER 2019 : “I don’t think we’ll see him before December. He’ll be out for a while,”
NOVEMBER 2019 : Pogba post's a picture on instagram of his injured ankle as proof of being injured, amid speculation that the injury is 'fake' due to an earlier Instagram post showing Pogba playing basketball with an NBA player. Once again, Solskjær was questioned on the status of his star midfielder. “He’s not ready to train. He had another scan at the start of the international break and his ankle has not healed up yet. He is stepping up the recovery so he doesn’t have to have the cast on. When you are out for six or seven weeks, you do lose loads of muscle."
JANUARY 2020 : Pogba is ruled out for at least a further 4 weeks with a new ankle injury after returning from his original injury to play two games. “Paul came back after a long spell out, played in two games, had a reaction, and couldn’t go to Burnley." said Solskjær, "He felt his ankle was sore, so we did a scan. It’s not the same injury, it’s a different injury.”
The point in highlighting this? Just how serious really was Pogba's ankle injury? And whichever angle you look at it, the answer doesn't look good. If the injury was serious then how will it affect the 27 year old midfielder? And could it be a sign of things to come in the Frenchman's future, after all, Since September 2019 Pogba has barely been seen on a football pitch, in fact, he has so far missed a total of 39 games from 47 fixtures, which is a whooping 82% of the fixtures played so far. Not exactly the statistics to entice a club into splashing big money to sign a player, especially in the current circumstances. So it's serious right? But what if it wasn't? And the injury was a way for Pogba to keep himself out of a Manchester United kit? Crazy I know, but entertain the idea for just a moment. If that was the case, then it speaks volumes about the character of Paul Pogba, and potential problems down the road should Juventus welcome their former player back with open arms. Whats to stop Pogba from pulling a similar stunt with Juventus if Barcelona or Real Madrid show interest in him? After all, it wouldn't be the first time that he got a move away when it suited him. It also doesn't take much to fuel this conspiracy theory when taking into the account that Pogba wanted a move away from Manchester last summer, and comments from the players notorious agent Mino Raiola, “Everyone knows the willingness of Paul to move on. We are in the process of that. Everyone knows what the feelings of Paul are." Is that really the type of player that Juventus want back at the club?
RISK VS REWARD
Lets cut to the chase, in order to sign Paul Pogba its going to cost A LOT of money, and that's before even getting into wage demands. Keep in mind that Pogba currently earns roughly £290,000 per week at Manchester United, a figure that would see him become Juventus second highest earner above Higuain & Dybala. Pogba currently has a market value of £72m (according to transfermarkt), a value that was once £90m the previous year, so you can begin to imagine how much a transfer deal would cost to bring Pogba back to Juventus. If a worst case scenario takes place, in which Pogba doesn't fully recover from his persistent ankle injuries, then it would be tough to move Pogba onto another club for a profit, thus Juventus would be handcuffed with yet another, expensive, injury prone player (I'm looking at you Aaron Ramsey). It would also require at least one big earner going in the opposite direction, and the most sell able asset that Juventus have is Paulo Dybala, as seen by the clubs failed efforts to sell the player during the previous summer. Of course in a perfect world Juventus would sign Pogba, his injury woes would be a thing of the past & no assets would be sold to accommodate his return. But even then, would you really expect Pogba to remain in Turin for an extended period of time? Or use it as a springboard to one of the big two clubs in Spain?
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Pogba is a talented footballer, and would improve what is currently on offer in Juventus midfield. A highlight reel of Pogba's goals during his time at Juventus alone would tempt any fan into day dreaming about seeing the name Pogba on the back of next season's Juventus shirt, but with any dream, there is also the possibility of it becoming a nightmare. Pogba left Juventus at 23 with his prime years ahead of him, now at the age of 27 Pogba has shown little sign of becoming the player that many expected him to be by now. Instead he is a player regularly criticised for his performances by fans, pundits & former Man Utd players, and now is coming off his first serious injury. Many players before Pogba have lost a step or two after enduring a long term injury, the question is, how many steps has Pogba lost? And is it a risk worth taking by Juventus?
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