Luis Enrique has reportedly made it clear that he does not want Barcelona to sign Paul Pogba until next summer.
The Juventus midfielder has been heavily tipped to join La Blaugrana in recent times, with an €80m being rejected and the player used as an electoral trump card by presidential candidate Joan Laporta, but Mundo Deportivo claims the Coach is happy to wait until the 2016-17 campaign for his services.
It is understood that Barca were willing to meet the Bianconeri’s asking price, which is nearer to €100m, but rather the demands of a €25m gross salary from Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola forced the Catalans to instead plump for Arda Turan, who completed his €41m switch earlier in the week.
The Frenchman would have suddenly become the treble winners’ second highest-paid player, just below Lionel Messi, possibly jeopardising the club’s wage structure and causing frictions in the dressing room.
It now remains to be seen whether Juve will continue to honour their verbal agreement with Barca over a future sale, given their transfer ban until January 2016, or decide to negotiate with a rival in the meantime.