Paul Pogba has told his Manchester United team-mates that he wants to leave this summer and the club will not stand in his way of a move to Real Madrid, according to reports in France.
The midfielder has been heavily linked with a second exit from Old Trafford and the club’s potential failure to qualify for next season’s Champions League could speed up his departure.
Juventus are said to be keen on reuniting with Pogba in Turin while the the 26-year-old has openly admitted his interest in moving to Real Madrid and working with Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane remains desperate to sign his fellow countryman and, after recently returning to the Bernabeu for a second spell in charge, has been promised an enormous transfer budget to revamp the Real team.
Pogba has received enormous criticism for his erratic form for United this season and accepted that the players let the club down with a ‘disrespectful’ performance in the 4-0 defeat by Everton on Sunday.
L’Equipe claim in their newspaper on Wednesday that Pogba’s exit this summer already ‘appears to be programmed’ as doubts continue to grow about his future at the club.
Pogba is said to want to compete for the Champions League on a regular basis and loves the idea of playing under Zidane at the Bernabeu.
It is claimed during the 2015/16 campaign that Zidane traveled to Italy to have lunch with Pogba and try to convince him to move to the Spanish capital, but a deal fell through because of tension between Florentino Perez and his agent, Mino Raiola.
Pogba is also reported to have told some of his colleague that he wants to leave the club and it is claimed that United will not stand in his way if Real make a realistic bid for him.
The thrashing at Goodison Park was United’s fifth straight loss away from home, prompting manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to go over to United’s travelling fans and apologise.
Pogba believes the squad need to change their mentality if they are to salvage Champions League qualification from a season that is once again threatening to go off the rails.
“Not to be disrespectful and I am not disrespectful on Everton, but the way we played and the performance of myself, of the team, of everyone is disrespectful,” Pogba told Sky Sports News. “We didn’t respect ourselves, the club or the fans.
“Everything went wrong but the most important thing is the mentality that we put on the pitch – that has to change.
“[In the dressing room after the game] we let the manager speak, the staff spoke, and they spoke the truth. They said what happened in the game and it is not respectful for ourselves.
“What we did on the pitch is not respectful for the team-mates, for the staff, for the people, for the kitman, for everyone.
“For their work, they put their life on us, the team and this club. What we showed on the pitch, we did not give them the joy back and that’s why we are angry with ourselves. We want to do better for sure and we have to. The reaction has to be there.”
– MailOnline
