According to an exclusive from The Daily Star yesterday evening, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has given manager Jose Mourinho a £60million budget to try and sign Juventus talisman Paul Pogba.
The former Manchester United youngster has emerged as one of the top central midfielders in the world since swapping Old Trafford for the Old Lady in summer 2012, going on to win three consecutive Serie A titles and claim 23 caps for the France national team.
The 22 year-old is also one of world football’s most wanted, with no less than seven top European clubs linked to his signature earlier this summer – including Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester City.
And according to The Daily Star, the Frenchman is now firmly in Chelsea’s transfer crosshairs amid a last-minute recruitment drive following the poor start to their Premier League title defence.
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They claim Abramovich has issued Mourinho a £60million limit to sign the 2013 Golden Boy winner, which would make him the most expensive signing in Premier League history following Angel Di Maria’s £59.7m arrival at Old Trafford last summer.
It remains to be seen if that figure would convince Juve to sell. They know Pogba has the potential to break Gareth Bale’s £87million world-record fee if they hold onto him for longer and have already rejected a £57.4million bid from Barcelona – according to the club’s director general Giuseppe Marotta.
That’s lead The Express to claim this morning that Chelsea could offer Brazil international Oscar and £23million flop Juan Cuadrado, both of whom have been linked with the Serie A champions this summer, in a cash-plus-player-swap deal.
With just eleven days of the summer window remaining, however, there’s little time to broker such a complicated arrangement, involving three players of different values with different wage demands.