MINO RAIOLA HAS rubbished suggestions Paul Pogba could leave Manchester United in January, claiming the Frenchman is the best midfielder in the world.
Pogba, 26, has long been linked with a move away from Old Trafford, with Real Madrid and Juventus thought to be interested in his signature.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Friday ruled out any exit for Pogba in the January transfer window .
Raiola confirmed that Pogba had been in contact with Madrid — but that he remained committed to United when the move didn’t go through.
“Paul wants to be successful and happy and wants to win trophies and he would love to do that with Manchester United,” Raiola told the Telegraph .
Okay, there was big interest from Real Madrid and Manchester didn’t let him go. We didn’t make a fuss about it and he didn’t make a fuss about it because I work in accordance with the player.
“You know other players can take things to extremes but Paul doesn’t like that. So you work differently.
“There was an interest from Real Madrid but they didn’t let him go, and I’m sorry because I think that [with] Paul being French then [Zinedine] Zidane is an important factor in French football history.”
Pogba has come in for plenty of criticism throughout his time at United, but Raiola thinks he is as good as anybody in the world in his position — though he wasn’t as complimentary towards United.
“Is there a better midfielder [than Pogba] in the world?” he asked.
“No! If you come to that conclusion then the other conclusion is – if you sell Paul Pogba would you buy a better one? No! Where is he?
But if you create your identity then maybe you discover that Paul is ideal. If you, say, want to play with two holding midfielders then where does Paul play? In several positions.
“At least when Ferguson was there you saw it was his team – the way they played, proactive, and the players that came in came in with an eye on how to play that game.
“So I say, make your identity of what you want your club to be and then find the ‘Lego’ parts for it. You need that clarity. A big club chooses the system and then chooses the players.”
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