Manchester City have cooled their interest in Paul Pogba in the face of astronomical demands from the player and Juventus.
City were quoted £71million, a British transfer record, to buy Pogba, with agent Mino Raiola trying to get him a salary of £250,000 a week.
After Juventus rejected a £57m bid from Barcelona for the 22-year-old France midfielder last week, it is believed the Italian club expected City’s Arab owners to meet their demands.
But the figures are simply too much for City, despite the lifting of restrictions imposed by Uefa for breaking Financial Fair Play regulations and a promise from their chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak that they are ready to compete in an ‘aggressive market’ for world-class players.
It is still possible that City could go back in for one of their top transfer targets if the price and wages come down, but they were last night understood to have taken a significant step back in negotiations.
City’s need for another central midfielder will not be so great if they succeed in signing Fabian Delph from Aston Villa for £8m.
And despite the shift in negotiations over Pogba, City won’t balk at the £50m valuations on Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling and Wolfsburg’s Kevin de Bruyne. – Daily Mail