Juventus Transfers: Analysing Paul Pogba's Decision to Sign with Juve

Paul Pogba has run down his contract at Manchester United and is set to become a Juventus player in the coming days. 

Corriere dello Sport (via Football Italia) reported that Juve would announce Pogba's signing on July 1, however the former United player has yet to sign on the dotted line. 

Barring a spectacular u-turn, a move that would cost his agent Mino Raiola some easy cash, pencil in Pogba as a Juve player. 

This article will analyse Pogba's decision to leave United in order to sign with Juve.

5. The Midfielders Were Blocking Paul Pogba's Development

Paul Pogba needs to look at the seven players in front of him like this: the first teammate is a Japanese attacking midfielder who'll never live up to the hype in a 4-4-2. The second teammate is an easy target for criticism. Father time is approaching the third and fourth teammate. The fifth teammate may never play football again. The sixth and seventh teammates are young guns, who struggle with injury. 

If Pogba stayed, he would have received several clear opportunities in the first team next season. To those asking why he wasn't given a chance this season, perhaps because his agent Mino Raiola was holding the club to ransom. 

Shinji Kagawa, Age: 23

Sir Alex Ferguson has to change his formation to a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-1-2 or any formation which incorporates an attacking midfielder. Kagawa is not a centre midfielder. 

Michael Carrick, Age: 30

Serviceable and consistent midfielder, who often goes unnoticed. When he leaves Manchester United and if the club struggles without him, that is when his reputation will enhance. Just like Claude Makélélé post-Real Madrid. 

Paul Scholes, Age: 37

When Sid Lowe asked Xavi if Scholes was England's answer to Xavi, the Spaniard candidly admitted that he modeled his game on Scholes. 

Zinedine Zidane paid homage to the Englishman: 

"

He’s almost untouchable in what he does. I never tire of watching him play. You rarely come across the complete footballer, but Scholes is as close to it as you can get. One of my regrets is that the opportunity to play alongside him never presented itself during my career.

"

Scholes only recently came out of retirement. He hasn't played 50 games or more in a season since the 2002-03 campaign. Unless he wants to emulate Sir Stanley Matthews, he's going to retire soon. 

Ryan Giggs, Age: 38

He only completed 60 percent of long passes but he accumulated eight assists. 

Darren Fletcher, Age: 28

Career is in limbo due to health problems.

Anderson, Age: 24

Being forced into a centre midfielder has ruined what could have been a great career. He was a class above the rest as the No. 10 during the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. His development has been stunted by injuries. 

Tom Cleverley, Age: 22

Good player but he's endured knee ligament damage, foot ligament damage and ankle ligament damage. 

4. Juventus: The Grass Isn't Always Greener on the Other Side

Andrea Pirlo is one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever. 

Arturo Vidal completed 178 tackles, 71 interceptions, scored seven goals and created three goals. 

Claudio Marchisio is an all-round midfielder, not to mention a homegrown Italian international. 

In Marchisio, Vidal and Pirlo—Juve have the MVP midfield, which was the best triumvirate in Europe last season. 

Even if two of the three succumb to long-term injuries, Paul Pogba wouldn't beat out Mauricio Isla, Kwadwo Asamoah or Emanuele Giaccherini for a spot in the first XI. 

Isla was decent as a centre midfielder last season, but Juve have signed him as a wing-back. Asamoah is a better player than Pogba right now. Giaccherini, who is strictly a squad player, is a safer option than the Frenchman. 

Unless Pogba's agent Mino Raiola knows something that the world doesn't know, like Asamoah and Isla's proposed transfers dramatically collapsing, Pogba might be playing for the Primavera. Surely one of the reasons he left Manchester United was the desire to play first-team football. 

3. Antonio Conte's Tough Loving

Antonio Conte played under managers like Giovanni Trapattoni, Marcello Lippi and Carlo Ancelotti. 

In Trapattoni's prime, he was obsessed with being a champion. Lippi later won a FIFA World Cup with Italy. Ancelotti is part of a prestigious club of managers, who've won multiple UEFA Champions League titles. 

Point being, Conte isn't just any ordinary manager, he's a winner. He masterminded an unbeaten league season with Mirko Vučinić averaging 11.3 shots per goal and Alessandro Matri top scoring with 10 goals. Essentially, Conte's Juventus won in spite of the aforementioned forwards. 

He froze out Milos Krasić, Eljero Elia and Marcelo Estigarribia because they didn't fit into his philosophy. It's the same approach Ancelotti used when dealing with Gianfranco Zola at Parma and Thierry Henry at Juventus. 

Paul Pogba better get used to Conte's eardrum bursting screams. 

2. Paul Pogba's Agent: Mino Raiola

Getting rich is the reason why Mino Raiola is a football agent. He'll make the most lucrative business decisions for his clients, but they aren't necessarily the best footballing decisions. 

Why is that the case? The bigger the contract, the more money Raiola receives.  

Raiola effectively sent Christian Wilhelmsson into semi-retirement by penning short-term, high-income deals with Al-Hilal and Al Ahli. 

Raiola orchestrated a shady deal between Cruzeiro, Chievo, Inter Milan and others for Kerlon—the seal dribbler; remember him? 

Even with Raiola's prized possession Zlatan Ibrahimović, things haven't always worked out as planned. The season he left Inter Milan was the season they won the UEFA Champions League. Same applied to Barcelona. 

1. Paul Pogba Might Be Starting in the UEFA Champions League Next Season

In the process of lamenting Paul Pogba and his agent Mino Raiola, have we all missed what seems so obvious? 

The Italian football system is a loan-happy league with clubs scratching each other's backs in order to combat financial constraints. 

Maybe the reason why the transfers of Udinese midfielders Kwadwo Asamoah and Mauricio Isla to Juventus have yet to be confirmed, is because both clubs are finalising Pogba's loan to Udinese. 

If this happens, Udinese just lost their two main centre midfielders, so this bodes well for Pogba. Gelson Fernandes isn't coming back on loan because he's off to Sporting Lisbon. Almen Abdi isn't anything special. Roberto Pereyra is not a centre midfielder. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu hasn't impressed when he's been given a chance. 

It all adds up now. Should Udinese navigate their way past the play-off rounds, Pogba could be starting in the UEFA Champions League next season. 

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Please read 5 Problems Robben May Face Next Season

Statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com