Transfer Centre

Jose Mourinho 'would not be surprised' if Paul Pogba deal falls through

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 21 July 2016

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says that he would not be surprised if the club failed in their pursuit of Paul Pogba, but insists that there are other options.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has admitted that he would not be surprised if the club failed to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus this summer.

Pogba's future has been the subject of intense speculation, but United are thought to be leading the race having reportedly submitted a world-record bid for the 23-year-old.

However, Mourinho stressed that there was no guarantee that they would succeed in their pursuit of the France international and revealed that he has identified other targets should the deal fall through.

"You have smoke, you have fire - you used to say something like that, right? I am not going to try to make you naive and believe that we are not trying for one player. But we know first of all that the player belongs to another club, which is not a small club. It is also a big club, a club with economical power to fight for their best players, to try and keep their best players," he told reporters.

"Apart from that we know other clubs are also involved and for us it is not kind of 'are we going to win the race or to lose the race?'. It is not a race, it is just the market. And when you go to the market, you have other options. You cannot focus on one, so we are in a very comfortable situation. My relationship with Mr Woodward is very good, it is very open. I never create this kind of situation for him that it is black or white. It is not black or white, I give him options.

"Since day one I tried to be pragmatic in my analysis, I try to give him different options so he's not feeling the pressure that 'I need to get this player because this is the player the manager wants'. The manager is trying to make things quite simple for everyone. The market is already difficult. My board doesn't need that the pressure come from the manager. My board needs to be calm, feel that we have other options. I really need for the balance of my squad a midfield player but we have more options.

"We have one space for a midfield player. Everybody speaks about one, but it wouldn't be a surprise for me if it is not him and it is another one because we went for profile. We have two more options in front of us and we are going to close one. We are in a comfortable position but we know what it is wrong and what is right. We know what the balance is and, I repeat, we are not going to be only focusing on one player. We are not going to be in the hands of one club that may sell and maybe doesn't sell. We need a fourth player with a certain profile and we're going to get it."

Pogba previously played for United from 2009 to 2012, making just seven appearances for the senior team before leaving on a free transfer.