Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba will remain at Old Trafford as Real Madrid are set to end their interest in signing the France international in January.
The emergence of 21-year-old Federico Valverde as a key first-team player at the Santiago Bernabeu has led to the sudden change of mind of the Madrid chiefs. The Uruguayan signed for Madrid for around £4.5m in 2016 and has made 18 appearances for the club this season. Valverde is also seen as a long-term replacement for Croatia midfielder Luka Modric and German international Toni Kroos.
The Uruguayan has been outstanding for Zinedine Zidane’s side this season due to his aggressive and dynamic displays in central midfield. With the player’s market value going up and performing well, Madrid do not see the need to invest €150m in bringing Pogba to Santiago Bernabeu.
And according to AS, Real have been so impressed by Valverde’s development over the past few months and the club is ready to cease its pursuit of Pogba. Madrid president Florentino Perez had revealed in August that a deal to sign Pogba before the close of the summer window would be ’impossible’.
The Frenchman looked set to make the move to the Spanish capital in the summer and Madrid were rumoured to be considering offering Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez in a swap deal for the player earlier this month. But the deal was blocked by United with manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer saying that the midfielder will remain at the club until his contract runs out.
After that Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola the Telegraph that his client is happy to remain at Old Trafford and bring success to the club. But he believes the club needs to support the midfielder more.
He said: “Paul wants to be successful and happy and wants to win prizes and he would love to do that with Manchester United,”
“Okay there was big interest from Real Madrid and Manchester didn’t let him go. We didn’t make a fuss about it and he didn’t make a fuss about it because I work in accordance with the player. You know other players can [take] things to extreme but Paul doesn’t like that.”
