Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has claimed the club ‘couldn’t afford’ to sign Paul Pogba in the summer of 2016, when he joined Manchester United.
The 26-year-old, who is under contract at Old Trafford until 2021, joined United from Juventus at that time in a €95m deal – then a world record deal.
The Blaugrana have since spent more money on signing Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele, following the €222m sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain the following year.
“In the summer of 2015, Paul Pogba was playing in Turin and we simply asked Juve if one day they decide to sell the player, we will be interested,” Bartomeu told an interview with ESPN.
“When they sold the player, they told us what the offer would have to be and we couldn't afford that amount of money at the time because of how much it was.
“So, he went to United. And he's making them better as a team because he's one of the stars of the world of football right now.”
