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Patrice Evra has said that Manchester United owners paid a then-world-record deal to sign Paul Pogba just to humiliate legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Evra claims that Pogba's agents pushed the move, and it was more to do with commercial revenue.
On the Stick to Football podcast, Evra said that he had advised Pogba against the move back to Manchester United. The Red Devils legend said that Real Madrid were unwilling to offer anything close to what Juventus were demanding:
"Manchester United brought Paul Pogba back because they wanted to humiliate Sir Alex Ferguson. I told Paul to not go back because he wanted Real Madrid, and Madrid wanted him, but Florentino Pérez didn't want to pay the money.
"His agent called United, and he signed with him without telling me. The club was happy because they were selling shirts, you know the kids love Pogba – it was more commercial than anything on the pitch."
Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United for £89 million – a record deal at that time - in the summer of 2016, having first joined them in 2012. He left the Red Devils six years later on a free transfer and returned to Juventus.
Sources close to Pogba rejects many of the claims made by Evra within the interview, which are either a distortion of the truth, or wholly inaccurate.
Patrice Evra explains why he had to stand up for Manchester United star Paul Pogba
Patrice Evra has said that he was looking out for Paul Pobga as he saw the Manchester United star as a younger brother. He said that the Frenchman needed to keep his feet on the ground:
"It's not about being a big fan of Paul Pogba. It's about being his big brother. It's about protecting him. I was harsh with him when I joined Juventus.
"One day, he said to the press, 'I deserve to win the Ballon d'Or'. I was like, 'Wait a minute. Did you ever hear (Frank) Lampard saying that. Did you ever hear (Andres) Iniesta, Xavi or whatever?' And, I'm like, 'Calm down, you're not ready for that'."
Sources close to Pogba insist he never expected or stated he deserved to win the Ballon d’Or.
However, he added that the criticism for Pogba was overboard:
"With Paul, you see him like that, but inside, he's not that strong, and he's protecting himself, and that's why I tried to protect Paul, because sometimes it (the criticism of him) was unfair.
"People were talking more about his hairstyle or his dancing than judging him on the pitch. Even sometimes he wasn't playing, they were saying, "United lost because of Paul Pogba."
Paul Pogba is currently suspended from the game for a doping offence.
