The France international midfielder moves back to Old Trafford for a world-record fee after letting his contract expire four seasons ago but is far from the finished product Real Madrid and their spendthrift president Florentino Perez have long taken a perverse kind of pleasure in having the most expensive player in the world on their books – whether it was Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale. For the last 16 years, Madrid have been in possession of the most expensive player in the game. There is always a grandiose ceremony at Santiago Bernabeu with thousands of fans in attendance. It has happened five times under Perez’s stewardship. You realise things have gone a little crazy when even Florentino Perez is turning down the chance to do it again. Manchester United’s insistence on Paul Pogba this summer drove up Juventus’s asking price far beyond what was sensible and had Perez doing what he almost never does – questioning the value in the deal and ultimately ending the chase. By Madrid’s reckoning, Pogba is just too expensive. It’s one thing signing Cristiano Ronaldo for some €94m (£80m) and watching him score 364 times in 348 games. Throw in two Champions League titles and you get the impression United were short-changed by selling him for the price they did in 2009. Pogba has gone for €16m (£93.8m) more than that. We know that the France international would have preferred Real Madrid and asked Zinedine Zidane to make it happen but his wish to go there instead of Old Trafford went unfulfilled. Indeed, he was also pretty happy to stay another season at Juventus. However, the sums involved mean it as a good deal all around. Juventus have received enough money to pay for their entire stadium, Pogba has become rich beyond his wildest dreams and United are in control of the transfer market. The sums make the eyes water and it is tempting to call into question the ethics of it all and if there are more worthy things to spend money on. But football is not aligned with the wider financial reality. United and their lead negotiator Ed Woodward want to be in possession of the biggest deal in football. No matter that they will pay Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola – famously the oil to Ferguson’s water – some €20m for the privilege. No matter that United let Pogba go for a nominal sum just four years ago with question marks over his aptitude for football at the highest level. No matter that the money could - perhaps – be invested elsewhere in the club. No matter that until very recently United refused to pay matchday staff the UK national Living Wag
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