LONDON: Pep Guardiola has rejected a proposal to add Paul Pogba to his formidable Manchester City squad. The offer arrived around “two months ago” from Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola, according to the City manager who made the stunning revelation ahead of the Manchester derby on Saturday.
Manchester United’s record signing was at that point embroiled in a dispute with Mourinho over his position and defensive responsibilities within, and his general contribution to, the team. After failing to secure a pay rise for his star client on the back of Alexis Sanchez’s January move to Old Trafford, Raiola began canvassing the interest of other leading clubs in Pogba with a view to a summer transfer.
Raiola’s efforts included proposing the most controversial deal possible — a cross-Manchester move from United to City. On top of the sheer audacity of trying to tempt the Abu Dhabi-owned club into bidding for one of United’s most valuable assets, Raiola’s strategy involved placing the France midfielder under the stewardship of a coach he recently described as “an absolute zero ... a coward, a dog."
Referring to Raiola’s comments in an interview with Dutch publications Quote, Guardiola said he was surprised Pogba’s representative had even considered negotiating a transfer to City. “I am surprised because I am a dog,” said Guardiola. “So if I’m a dog he cannot join his players to here. No way.
“Why he offered if we were interested in Pogba and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan to play with us? I'm a bad guy, so he has to protect his players, so he has to know he cannot bring his players to a guy like me, like a dog.
“And comparing [me to] a dog is bad. It's not good. He has to respect the dogs.”
Raiola's conflict with Guardiola is long standing, with the agent criticising the Catalan's handling of Zlatan Ibrahimovic during their single season together at Barcelona in 2009-10. “Pep Guardiola, the coach, is fantastic,” Raiola told Quote earlier this month. “As a person he’s an absolute zero. He’s a coward, a dog.
“He’s a classic priest. ‘Do as I tell you; don’t do what I do...’ If Manchester City win the Champions League this season it will emphasise what a good coach he is – but I’ll hate it.
“Guardiola told Zlatan to go to him if he ever had any problems or complaints. But then he just ignored him and wasn’t playing him. He didn’t even say 'hello’ to Zlatan. Guardiola did the same to Maxwell, who is a lovely lad. So I told Zlatan to go and park his Ferrari in the manager’s spot.”
Asked for his response to Raiola's comments on the eve of a match in which Pogba's United will attempt to stop City from securing the Premier League title against them, Guardiola initially declined to comment. The Catalan then said he had “a question” about Raiola's behaviour.
“I am agreed with him,” Guardiola said. “Finally, the people discover my secrets: I'm a bad guy. I'm a coward. I never speak with him ... so maybe Ibra explained many things about me. But being a bad guy, like two months ago he offered Mkhitaryan and Pogba to play with us. Why?”
Guardiola said Pogba was “an exceptional player — a top, top player”, but that City – who have committed an unprecedented €586million to transfer fees alone over his two campaigns at the club — could not afford the deal. “I said no. We don’t have enough money to buy Pogba because he’s so expensive.”
Mourinho is unlikely to take well to Guardiola’s public intervention into an issue that is of critical importance to his preparations for a third campaign as United manager. Should his team lose at City on Saturday, the English title will be decided on the earliest date since 1956.
Asked on Friday about offering Pogba to City, Raiola told BBC Sport: “I never spoke to Pep Guardiola. I would not speak to him about players, I would speak to Manchester City. They are a fantastic club with a fantastic manager.”
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The Egypt captain is a man on a mission in Morocco, having scored four goals in four appearances on the Pharaoh’s run to the semifinals as he targets winning AFCON for the first time.
Salah, who turns 34 in June, is running out of time to win a major international honor with his country having suffered the agony of two final defeats in the competition.
After being part of the Egypt side beaten by Cameroon in the 2017 final in Gabon, Salah skippered the team beaten on penalties by Senegal in 2022 in Yaounde.
Mane had a penalty saved in normal time on that dramatic night at the Olembe Stadium, but recovered to score the decisive kick in the shoot-out as Senegal became African champions for the first time.
Salah was due to take Egypt’s next penalty but would not get the chance to step up and was already on the verge of tears as Mane prepared to strike the decisive blow.
Less than two months later, the teams met again in a decisive World Cup qualifying play-off and once more penalties were needed — Salah missed, Mane scored and Senegal won.
They went on to reach the last 16 in Qatar while Egypt failed to qualify for the first World Cup held in the Arab world.
Both have qualified for the upcoming tournament in North America, providing what will perhaps be a last chance for the two veterans to star on the biggest stage of all.
- Feeling the pressure -
For now, however, it is all about continental supremacy as Senegal chase a third final in four editions of AFCON, and Egypt aim to take a step closer to a record-extending eighth title overall.
Mane, who also turns 34 this year, will feel less pressure having already collected a Cup of Nations winner’s medal.
“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” admitted Salah after helping his team beat Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals.
“I have won almost every prize. This is the title I am waiting for.”
The pair played together under Jurgen Klopp for five years between Salah arriving from Roma in 2017 and Mane’s departure.
They formed a formidable front line along with Roberto Firmino and together won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020 — there were also two defeats to Real in Champions League finals.
But Mane recently admitted that sometimes the pair found it difficult to get along on the pitch.
“I think Mo is first of all a very nice guy. I think though inside the pitch, sometimes he would pass to me and sometimes he wouldn’t,” Mane said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
“Only Bobby (Firmino) was there to share the balls. Sometimes it was like this,” he added with a laugh.
“I still remember one game when I was really, really angry because he doesn’t pass me the ball.”
This time they really are on opposing sides, as two former African footballers of the year look to lead their countries to glory — for the second time, in Mane’s case.
“The pressure for me is over. Before I won the African Cup, sometimes I played badly because of the pressure,” Mane, who has one goal at this AFCON, admitted on the same podcast.
“All that on your shoulders is not easy,” he added, and Salah is well aware of that.
Paul Pogba was offered to Manchester City, reveals Pep Guardiola in stunning admission
Paul Pogba was offered to Manchester City, reveals Pep Guardiola in stunning admission
- Top agent Mino Raiola discussed move away from Old Trafford for club's record buy
- Guardiola: 'I said no. We don’t have enough money to buy Pogba'
Salah and Mane meet again with AFCON final place on the line
- Salah, who turns 34 in June, is running out of time to win a major international honor with his country
- Mane, who also turns 34 this year, will feel less pressure having already collected a Cup of Nations winner’s medal
RABAT: Three years after they last appeared together, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah meet again on Wednesday on opposing sides as Senegal and Egypt clash for a place in the Africa Cup of Nations final.
The last-four showdown in the Moroccan city of Tangiers will be the first time the former Liverpool teammates have shared a pitch since the Anfield club lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final in May 2022.
Shortly after that, Mane left for Bayern Munich before moving to Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League a year later.
Salah, meanwhile, has been heavily linked with a move to Saudi Arabia in the near future but remains for now at Liverpool despite falling out of favor with coach Arne Slot before coming to the Cup of Nations.
The Egypt captain is a man on a mission in Morocco, having scored four goals in four appearances on the Pharaoh’s run to the semifinals as he targets winning AFCON for the first time.
Salah, who turns 34 in June, is running out of time to win a major international honor with his country having suffered the agony of two final defeats in the competition.
After being part of the Egypt side beaten by Cameroon in the 2017 final in Gabon, Salah skippered the team beaten on penalties by Senegal in 2022 in Yaounde.
Mane had a penalty saved in normal time on that dramatic night at the Olembe Stadium, but recovered to score the decisive kick in the shoot-out as Senegal became African champions for the first time.
Salah was due to take Egypt’s next penalty but would not get the chance to step up and was already on the verge of tears as Mane prepared to strike the decisive blow.
Less than two months later, the teams met again in a decisive World Cup qualifying play-off and once more penalties were needed — Salah missed, Mane scored and Senegal won.
They went on to reach the last 16 in Qatar while Egypt failed to qualify for the first World Cup held in the Arab world.
Both have qualified for the upcoming tournament in North America, providing what will perhaps be a last chance for the two veterans to star on the biggest stage of all.
- Feeling the pressure -
For now, however, it is all about continental supremacy as Senegal chase a third final in four editions of AFCON, and Egypt aim to take a step closer to a record-extending eighth title overall.
Mane, who also turns 34 this year, will feel less pressure having already collected a Cup of Nations winner’s medal.
“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” admitted Salah after helping his team beat Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals.
“I have won almost every prize. This is the title I am waiting for.”
The pair played together under Jurgen Klopp for five years between Salah arriving from Roma in 2017 and Mane’s departure.
They formed a formidable front line along with Roberto Firmino and together won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020 — there were also two defeats to Real in Champions League finals.
But Mane recently admitted that sometimes the pair found it difficult to get along on the pitch.
“I think Mo is first of all a very nice guy. I think though inside the pitch, sometimes he would pass to me and sometimes he wouldn’t,” Mane said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
“Only Bobby (Firmino) was there to share the balls. Sometimes it was like this,” he added with a laugh.
“I still remember one game when I was really, really angry because he doesn’t pass me the ball.”
This time they really are on opposing sides, as two former African footballers of the year look to lead their countries to glory — for the second time, in Mane’s case.
“The pressure for me is over. Before I won the African Cup, sometimes I played badly because of the pressure,” Mane, who has one goal at this AFCON, admitted on the same podcast.
“All that on your shoulders is not easy,” he added, and Salah is well aware of that.
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