Zlatan Ibrahimovic was adamant to pair up with French sensation Paul Pogba at Manchester United and jokingly mentioned that he would have maimed Mino Raiola, who is both his and Pogba’s agent if he did not ensure the signing.
Paul Pogba signed for the Red Devils for a world record fee of £89m from Serie A side Juventus. A United academy product, he left for the Italian champions due to lack of first team opportunities under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Also read: EPL 2016/17: Zlatan Ibrahimovic confronted by lookalike pitch invader
Zlatan joked with Raiola and promised to “break his leg” if the Paul Pogba deal fell through this summer. The Dutch super agent, who had constructed Zlatan’s and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s transfers to the Old Trafford side earlier in the summer, ensured Pogba moved to his boyhood club.
Raiola revealed that during the period of negotiations of Pogba’s deal, the Swede star had threatened the agent. Speaking to Dutch newspaper De Volskrant, he said, “Zlatan is very important to me. He was the first [to sign] and he called me and said, 'you dare let Pogba sign for someone else and I'll break your legs.'"
The agent, who made £40m on the Pogba, Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan deals, also defended the Euro 2016 star, Pogba, and said, "For Paul, it is that he still needs to find the balance in the team. My favourite him is attacking midfielder, slightly left. He will destroy you with his strength, movement and technique but that is up to Mourinho."
Also read: Polished Pogba leads United's rout of Leicester
Paul Pogba scored his first goal for the 20-time Premier League champions when he headed in Dailly Blind’s corner late into the first half as United defeated defending champions Leicester City 4-1 in a one-sided contest. The only negative on United’s point of view was Demarai Gray’s 30-yard consolation goal for the Foxes. The side does look revitalised after three back to back defeats.
Before leaving for the Turin-based club Juventus, Pogba had failed to score in seven appearances for United. He scored 34 goals in his 178 appearances in Italy, an impressive stat when one is a central-midfielder.
Pogba has been at the receiving end of the fans criticism as he failed to influence the previous matches. However, in Saturday’s fixture, Pogba certainly showed his calibre and he might be able to justify his price tag sooner than later.
