PAUL POGBA will be furious if Manchester United enforce an automatic extension to his contract amid Real Madrid’s interest in the midfielder.
Spanish media reports suggest the coming transfer window will be now or never for the LaLiga giants’ pursuit of Pogba as United look to end the saga once and for all.
Currently under contract to 2021, the speculation is set to come to a head when the Red Devils open talks over a new deal.
An agreement would not strictly be necessary as the Premier League club can impose a one-year extension already agreed with their record signing.
Applying such an obligation at this time however would anger Pogba and his agent Mino Raiola, according to Madrid newspaper As.
Thus United are said to be starting discussions over a mutually agreed renewal, which could either end the talk of an exit for good or confirm the breakdown in relations between the club and Pogba’s camp.
The 27-year-old has only appeared twice since September due to a troublesome ankle injury that has just recently allowed him back into training.
In the meantime, the Red Devils have closed the gap to fourth-place Chelsea to just three points while rallying around January addition Bruno Fernandes.
That has helped reduce the Pogba saga to something of a distraction for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Raiola escalating their feud on a momentous night for the coach, as United beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in February.
Having told the agent that he didn’t own Pogba, Solskjaer was on the end of a long Twitter statement asserting “you cannot own a human being” and that the player is not his “prisoner”.
Waitings in the wings are Real Madrid, where Zinedine Zidane has long been a public admirer of his countryman and the pair were even spotted together in Dubai in October – a meeting played down as a coincidence.
The Old Trafford outfit faced big interest in their player from both Los Blancos and Juventus last summer.
A mega price tag of £180million was slapped on Pogba but that will be reduced to £100m this time around with SunSport reporting earlier this month that the club were resigned to selling him.
Yet they may still enact the contract extension clause to ensure derisory bids can be comfortably turned away.
