Man Utd transfer news: Paul Pogba likely to make summer decision on Old Trafford future

January 08, 2022

Paul Pogba has not been offered a new contract since last summer and is still deciding whether to extend his stay at Old Trafford.

Contrary to media reports, Pogba, whose contract at United runs until the end of June, has not been offered a new deal since last summer and that offer has not yet been accepted or rejected.

The midfielder's focus is getting fit and back playing for Manchester United after having missed 11 games since November due to a hamstring injury.

He can sign a pre-contract with a foreign club in the January transfer window, but is increasingly likely to wait until the summer before making a decision on his future.

Sky Sports News has approached Manchester United for comment.

Rangnick: Pogba out injured for another month

Amid the ongoing transfer speculation, interim manager Ralf Rangnick has revealed Pogba will be unavailable for potentially another month due to his hamstring problem.

"As far as I know, I was told a week ago, it would be a minimum of at least another four or five weeks before he is fit for training again," Rangnick told club media.

"I saw him this morning before the training session, he was in the locker room, and I hope he will be back as soon as possible.

"Right now, he's not been part of the training group and, even if he was back whenever, two, three or four weeks, it will take some time.

"It's one thing to be training fit but, on the other hand, he needs to be fit for the match and competition in either the Premier League or the Champions League and this will still take some time."

What has been said on Pogba's future?

In October last year, the 28-year-old, who has been regularly linked with a return to Juventus, confirmed he will "see what happens" in the summer concerning his future while his representative Mino Raiola said there is a "possibility" of him going back to Turin.

Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are among a number of clubs interested in signing him.

Pogba is yet to feature under Rangnick since he took charge and last month, when asked about speculation surrounding the midfielder, the German said it was not his job to convince Pogba or any other player to remain at the club.

He said: "Players have to want to stay and play for the club.

"For a big club like Manchester United, if a player does not want to play for a club like Manchester United, even in the long term, I don't think it makes sense to convince him to change his mind.

"This is such a massive club [with] such fantastic support, I don't think that anyone in the club should then try to convince the player to stay.

"But on the other hand, let's wait and see. I've spoken with him for 15 minutes over the phone a few days ago. Let's have him come back, get fully fit, train with the team and then we will see where we stand [and] how the team has developed by then.

"He can be an important player, I'm fully aware of that, but this is true for all the other players that we have.

"I'm not only the coach of Paul Pogba once he's fully fit, I'm also the coach of all the other players and my ambition is to make them better, to develop each individual player, and this is only possible by improving the performance of the whole team."

Pogba returned to United in a club-record deal from Juventus in 2016 and has scored 38 times and made 49 assists in 219 appearances in all competitions.

Meanwhile, Anthony Martial wants to leave United this month but the club rejected a loan offer from Sevilla for the forward at the end of December.

Cliques at Man Utd as players doubt Ralf Rangnick's suitability

Some Manchester United players are struggling to adapt to interim manager Ralf Rangnick's methods and doubt whether he is the right man to be in charge at Old Trafford.

There are cliques within the United dressing room, a source has told Sky Sports News, adding some of the players are finding it difficult to play in Rangnick's 4-2-2-2 formation.

Another source has told Sky Sports News "they have the players at Manchester United who are ready to play, but they don't have the coach to get the best out of those players".

The same source also stressed Rangnick's plans were disrupted in December, when the club had to close their Carrington training ground after a Covid outbreak, and that this has had an effect on performances.

Rangnick had not lost since arriving at United until Monday night, when Wolves punished yet another disappointing display by beating them 1-0, claiming their first win at Old Trafford since 1980.

United have struggled to adapt to Rangnick's high-pressing style of play, aside from a promising opening half-hour in his first game against Crystal Palace, and have gone on to scrape results against Norwich and Newcastle.

'Rangnick must manage big egos - and board need to back him!'

Ralf Rangnick must be able to manage the "big egos" within Manchester United's dressing room if he is to succeed as the club's interim manager, Roy Hodgson told The Transfer Show.

The former England and Crystal Palace manager also urged the United board to "back" Rangnick after sources told Sky Sports News that some players are beginning to doubt whether he is the right man to be in charge.

Cliques have developed within the United dressing room, according to a source, who added that some of the players are finding it difficult to play in Rangnick's 4-2-2-2 formation.

But Hodgson - who has met Rangnick on a number of occasions and says he always found him to be "impressive" - believes his fellow manager was always going to have a tough job on his hands at Old Trafford.

"He's a very serious football man who's had fantastic results wherever he's gone," said Hodgson. "I have sympathy and empathy with anybody who finds themselves in the firing line because I've been there myself.

"I think one of the problems with Ralf might have been that people have built up him and his methods in a way which is going to be very difficult to live up to. Certainly in the conversations I've had with him, it's not been a question of 'I know something in football that nobody else knows'.

"What he does know is what's required to produce a good team and get a team playing together and get the right balance between attacking and defending.

"Of course he also knows, I'm sure, about players and about how difficult it is to deal with players. Coming into Manchester United, he's definitely come into a club where there are a lot of big players, a lot of big egos, and trying to mould them together to get that balance that he really wants is never going to be an easy job. It's going to take time."

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