PEP Guardiola has fanned the flames ahead of today’s Manchester Derby, claiming that Paul Pogba was offered to Manchester city by his agent in January.
Tweet in “Manchester United” midfielder last night certainly raised a few eyebrows ahead of the match at the Etihad stadium.
It contained only two words – “what?”.
Many believed that this was a possible answer to the claims of the city Manager PEP Guardiola ahead of the Manchester Derby that Pogba was offered Bayern in the January transfer window.
If the French team was proposed to the city and whether to tweet Pogba was his response to these claims, he certainly added spice to the Premier League.
Victory city will clinch the title for them, although Pogba will hopefully have something to say about that on the field.
The host city made a startling announcement after the issue of his differences with agent Mino Raiola, with whom he has a significant history, in his pre-match press conference.
The future of midfielder Pogba in “Manchester United” was the subject of considerable speculation in recent months after the apparent rift with Manager Jose Mourinho.
Guardiola also said Raiola offered the Town the services of Henrikh Mkhitaryan before the Armenian organizations subsequently left for Arsenal in a deal that took Alexis Sanchez to old Trafford.
“Two months ago, he suggested that Pogba and Mkhitaryan to play with us,” said Guardiola.
Background to the extraordinary claim is incendiary speech Raiola last month, when he criticized Guardiola for his treatment of another of his clients, Zlatan Ibrahimovic when the pair were in Barcelona.
“PEP Guardiola, the coach, is fantastic,” said Raiola. “As a man, he is absolute zero. He is a coward, a dog.”
The Spaniard said: “I Have a lot of (opponents), especially agents. I have a lot. I’m a big boss”.
Asked if one of these agents was Raiola, Guardiola initially refused to answer, but then sarcastically said, “finally, people reveal their secrets, I’m the bad guy. I’m a coward. I don’t understand why I’m such a bad guy.
“I never talk with him, so his influence on my opinion… I don’t know if Ibra explained many things about me.”
At this point he made the revelation Pogba and Mkhitaryan, before claiming that he was surprised Raiola was able to do it, given that he apparently had such a low opinion of him.
Guardiola said: “why is it? He was interested in Mhikitarian and Pogba to play with us? I’m surprised, because I have a dog, he wants his players to come here.”
Claim to add considerable extra spice to the Derby at the Etihad stadium. The leaders of the Premier League city clinch Premier League title with a win.
Pogba was surprised claims, tweeting, “what?” shortly after they were published.
Raiola told Bi-bi-si: “I never said PEP Guardiola. I didn’t want to talk to him about the players, I would speak with Manchester city. They are a fantastic club with a fantastic Manager.”
Guardiola said that he turned down Raiola.
“I said no,” he said. “Pogba is a great footballer, top, top player. But we don’t have enough money to buy Pogba because it’s so expensive.”
The city would win the title in record time-six rounds to finish if they beat organization, but Guardiola said that such dominance will not be repeated.
He said: “next season will be very difficult for us. It will not happen again. That’s impossible.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
