Manchester United close in on Paul Pogba deal

Manchester United are close to finalising the purchase of Paul Pogba from Juventus in a transfer worth £92m but will have to pay the player's agent, Mino Raiola, up to £18.4m to conclude the deal.

United made a second offer on Wednesday, their first offer of £87m plus add-ons having been rejected on Tuesday during a meeting with Manchester United's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and the Juventus directors Giuseppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici as well as the player's agent, Mino Raiola.

The deal now hinges on Juventus’ demand that United pay the whole fee to Raiola, believed to be around 20%, a staggering £18.4m. United had already agreed to pay their half of the agent’s fee but Juve are now saying that if the deal is to be concluded United must pay the whole fee.

Juventus had originally said that they would only let the player go for £100m but will now accept £92m if United pay Raiola’s fee. United have also agreed to buy Pogba’s commercial rights and pay him an extra £4.2m a season, taking his earnings to £290,000 a week.

There were reports on Wednesday night that Real Madrid had been in contact with Juventus in order to try to hijack the deal but United and Raiola are confident that the player will sign for the Premier League club.

The Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane, said earlier this week that he was "happy with the squad I have got and it's difficult to improve on it," before adding: "Do I like Pogba? Of course, he's a very good player and every club wants the best players but right now he's at Juve and we have a large squad already."

United are currently in China preparing for their first of two games while on tour, against Borussia Dortmund, on Friday. They then face Manchester City three days later.

The United manager, José Mourinho, has already made three additions to his squad with Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The latter has not travelled with United to China and is instead enjoying an extended break after a long season with Paris St-Germain and Euro 2016 with Sweden.

The 34-year-old is expected to make his United debut against the Turkish side Galatasaray in Gothenburg on July 30th, by which time Mourinho will hope that the Pogba deal has been concluded.

(Guardian service)