'Manchester United signed Paul Pogba because they wanted to humiliate Alex Ferguson: the club was happy because they were selling shirts, it was more commercial than anything on the pitch': Patrice Evra makes outrageous claim about record signing
Patrice Evra has made an extraordinary claim over why Manchester United re-signed Paul Pogba
Patrice Evra left Manchester United back in 2014 after a successful eight-year spell
Patrice Evra has made a startling claim that he believes led Manchester United to resign Paul Pogba back in 2016.
The former left-back, who won five Premier League titles and the Champions League during a glittering spell at United, was a teammate of Pogba’s at both Old Trafford and Juventus.
Pogba left the Red Devils in 2012 after he was unable to break into the first team, with manager Alex Ferguson claiming he had agreed a deal with the Italian giants well in advance of his contract expiring - and that he had “disrespected” the club. The French midfielder would go on to re-sign for United for a then-world-record transfer fee of £89.3million in 2016 following a successful spell with Juventus.
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The reason Paul Pogba was re-signed according to Patrice Evra
United wanted to upset Sir Alex Ferguson… according to Evra (Image credit: Getty Images)
Evra has now claimed United only brought Pogba back to the club purely to embarrass their legendary former manager.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast brought to you by Skybet, Evra said: “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 Perez didn’t want to pay the money.
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“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.”
Despite winning the Europa League Pogba's second spell at Old Trafford was generally a disappointment
Although Ferguson’s issues with the way Pogba originally left Old Trafford are well documented, this is the first time a former player has suggested this could have motivated the Old Trafford hierarchy to bring Pogba back.
Despite winning the EFL Cup and Europa League in his first season back, Pogba’s return was generally a disappointment given the huge fee United parted company with to bring him back. He returned to Juventus on a free transfer in 2022, before later receiving a four-year ban from playing due to a doping offence.
In FourFourTwo's opinion, United did not sign Pogba to humiliate Ferguson. This is a crazy assumption from Evra based on how the midfielder's career panned out – but at the time, the transfer was seen as a huge statement of intent. This is not the first time that Evra has made shock claims either, stating in the past that Thierry Henry refused to watch Arsenal while Granit Xhaka was captain.
Sources close to Pogba insist he never expected or stated he deserved to win the Ballon d’Or. He also rejects many of the claims made by Evra within the interview, which are either a distortion of the truth, or wholly inaccurate.
Pogba is also disappointed that numerous claims were not verified before they were made.
Jack has worked as a sports reporter full-time since 2021. He previously worked as the Chief Women’s Football Writer at the Mirror, covering the England Women’s national team and the Women’s Super League. Jack has covered a number of major sporting events in recent years including the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on the ground in Australia.
