Barcelona were foolish to let Manchester United sign Paul Pogba
It’s not as if Barcelona are short on world-class talent at the moment. That’s still no excuse for the La Liga giants passing up the chance to add a once-in-a-generation talent like Paul Pogba.
Barcelona’s arrogance ultimately allowed the French midfielder to find his way back to Old Trafford this summer. Today’s admission from Barcelona director of sporting relations Alberto Soler that his club had the first option to sign Pogba equates to gross negligence by the Barcelona administration.
It’s not as if they’re blessed with three superstars in their midfield three. Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto and Ivan Rakitic are all really good players, but they aren’t on Pogba’s level. There’s no tactical reason why they shouldn’t have splashed the cash necessary to add Pogba to their squad.
There are only two reasonable explanations as to why Barcelona might have passed. The first possible reason is they may not have been crazy about paying the necessary fee. The club aren’t short on transfer cash, but Pogba’s fee was expensive by anyone’s standards.
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I’m not sure I buy that. They were linked with quite a few big-name players this summer and Pogba would have only been moderately more expensive than some of those other players. That means there must have been another explanation for their lack of interest in the French star.
I suspect they didn’t push for Pogba because they were afraid of adding another big personality to their dressing room. Luis Enrique already has to deal with quite a few massive egos. Adding Pogba could have made the manager’s task impossible. Messi, Suarez and Neymar score lots of goals, but each requires special attention from many people at the club.
Even if Barcelona were concerned with Pogba’s ego, that still wasn’t a good enough reason to let him go to United. When you have a chance to add a special talent like Pogba, you move heaven and Earth to make it happen. Barcelona will rue the day they let Pogba head to Manchester United without putting up a fight.
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