Reports: Juventus to meet with Team Pogba over potential summer move

As the 2021-22 Serie A season reaches its final days, it appears as though business is starting to pick up. And for Juventus, that means some transfer targets are starting to come into sight.

Well, at least one.

According to multiple reports out of Italy — including Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio and Fabrizio Romano and Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti — on Saturday, Juventus has scheduled a Monday meeting with Paul Pogba’s representatives to discuss a potential move back to Turin this summer. Those who now represent Pogba — who is out of contract at Manchester United come the end of the season — in lieu of Mino Raiola’s death, could ask upward of €11 million net a season over four years, but he will likely have to take a serious pay cut from what he’s earning now and may ask for if he wants to make a PogBack 2.0 move to Turin.

As Agresti reported, Juventus have very much expressed their interest in bringing the 29-year-old Frenchman back to Turin. But, as one might expect, it could very much come down to the simple financial aspect of it all and if there’s even a solution to be had.

According to Di Marzio, both Manchester United (via a contract extension) and Paris Saint-Germain (via a free-agent deal) offer more to Juventus when it come to the financial aspect of things. That’s not really a surprise knowing the financial capabilities of both clubs as well as Juventus’ desire to try and reign in a payroll that has been well above every other big club in Italy.

Essentially, Juventus could very much be weighing just how much Pogba’s will to play Champions League football — something he wouldn’t get with Manchester United next season — will outweigh the likely financial step back he would have to take. That’s on top of the simple fact that Juventus are reportedly aware of just how much Pogba would be happy with a return to Turin.

Pull at a heart string here. Pull at a heart string there. It’s all in a day’s work, right?

Another report regarding Pogba’s future from Italian transfer reporter Nicolo Schira has seemingly indicated that there are really only two options for the midfielder’s services come next season — Juventus and PSG. That means it’s either a return to the club that Pogba used to play for from 2012 to 2016 or a return to his homeland for what one would assume would be the rest of his prime years.

Schira also reported this weekend that the offer Juventus is preparing for Pogba is €8 million a season plus another €2 million in add-ons — gee, where have we heard figures like that before? — while Paris Saint-Germain have offered upward of €12 million a year.