Manchester United: The Greed of Agents Paul Pogba, Morrison, Welbeck

Last week, Paul Pogba had all but signed for Juventus. He was dropped from the First Team Manchester United squad by an exasperated Sir Alex Ferguson.

When I sat down at Old Trafford to watch the pre-match warm-up on Sunday, I was stunned to see Pogba in the substitutes group. Then, to my delight, he was called on as first replacement with 20 minutes to go.

Now, Fergie is brilliant at mind games, both with us and his players, but surely this must mean that Pogba would re-sign?

Then, of course, yesterday's media was full of strong rumours that he was on the verge of putting pen to paper on a four-year deal. Skysports was one of the most confident.

As I write, that deal has still to be signed and no doubt his recently appointed agent, Mino Raiola will have a say. He represents Mario Balotelli and does not come cheap. 

Agent Power

Ferguson's frustration is both with Pogba and his agent. No doubt as soon as he knew that Paul had appointed the Dutch "super-agent," he sensed there would be trouble.

And so it was to be. If the reports are to be believed, Pogba would get £1 million a year at Juventus, but Raiola was on a payday of £1.6 million.

So when Sir Alex decided he needed an urgent discussion with David Gill to keep the talented midfielder, he would be fighting on two fronts: Pogba's salary and his agent's fee.

Ferguson is not against paying fees. After all, his son Jason has been in the trade. He is, however, outraged at some of the fees being paid, viz the run-in with Paul Stretford, Wayne Rooney's agent a year ago, according to the Guardian.

Sir Alex has referred to agents as one of the biggest challenges of the modern Premier League manager. A glance at the fees paid by clubs to agents last year shows that United, while not being the top spenders, still shelled out £4.5 million, following £2.3 million the previous year.

You can understand his frustration, however, when most of United's salary negotiations go pretty smoothly—especially when dealing with the likes of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who are United through and through. 

Loyalty versus Greed

And therein lies part of the problem. Sir Alex, like Sir Matt Busby, believes that if you stick with United, "the money will follow you."

One look at the wages that top United players receive shows that they are among the best payers—probably only City and Chelsea are more extravagant. And they are very fair in offering new improved contracts as players prove themselves. Neither Chicharito nor Valencia had to wait till the end of their contracts to get a deal that recognised their value.

Given his way, Sir Alex would only sign and retain players who want to wear the red shirt of Manchester United. In the main he has been successful in this respect.

He knew, for example, that Cristiano Ronaldo wanted one day to play for Real Madrid and honoured that understanding, but in return got an extra year out of the 'Galactico' (and a fat fee from Madrid of £80 million as compensation!)

Very few players ask to leave United, except at the lower end.

Ferguson regrets that he could not keep Ryan Shawcross or Gerard Piquet, who were desperate for first team football. When they look at Jonny Evans and Phil Jones, surely they can see that their turn would have come.

Similarly Giuseppe Rossi, where Sir Alex was canny enough to include a buy-back clause.

But I don't believe any of those left for more money.

Egged on by agents, I would share the concern of Sir Alex that some players will have their heads turned by money. When you've been on an apprentice contract of £1,500 a week until you were 18 and see Wayne Rooney on many times that when he signed for United, or are offered £20,000 a week elsewhere despite not having started a first team match, it's partially understandable. 

Juggling all the factors

It is rumoured that Luka Modric is on £85,000 a week at Tottenham, so when Danny Welbeck is reputedly asking for £60,000 a week it is bound to stir up some hackles.

Paul Pogba may indeed be worth £20,000 or even £50,000 a week within a year, but we won't know until he is a first team regular.

In the meantime, he and some of his peers need to keep their feet on the ground. The average wage in the UK is about £26,000 a year, so who are these young upstarts to believe they are worth 50 times as much—whether or not football is the entertainment industry?

Sir Alex Ferguson does not want to fight for players who don't want to wear the red shirt. If their loyalties are divided, they need a reality check. Wayne Rooney got one, with hoodies outside his front door when the rumours circulated that he was going to City.

Sir Alex genuinely believes that Pogba wants to stay at Old Trafford, but has had his head turned by his agent.

That is the first conundrum to deal with.

He has to offer an attractive enough contract to persuade Pogba to stay (including a fat fee to his agent no doubt—which will stick in his throat), while not busting the pay scales of other young players or his established first team players.

Jones, Smalling and Young are believed to be on around £50,000 a week and while Danny Welbeck can aspire to those levels at the end of the season, Pogba has to prove himself first. Cleverley may be on £40,000 a week, but he is established, 23 and has earned his spurs in the Premier League with a season in Wigan's first team. 

Ravel Morrison and Ezekiel Fryers

Ravel Morrison is a waste of space. His legal troubles are well documented, but there isn't enough space to detail all his indiscipline and other outrages at Old Trafford.

He may be one of the talents of his generation and definitely an outrageously talented footballer, but unless he gets a head transplant, a lot of informed observers think he will crash and burn.

His salary was never an issue because, when added to everything else, once he tried to hold a gun to United's head on pay, they were only ever going to try and get the highest transfer fee possible. When you see him being fined by the FA for homophobia within weeks of arriving at West Ham, it's obvious that Ravel was a near miss.

Zeki Fryers, on the other hand, is a burgeoning talent with his feet on the ground. When it was rumoured that he was demanding a big salary, he was quick to rubbish that on Twitter.

He has looked the real deal since his first appearance for the United first team. His time will come and he'll get the rewards commensurate with his success. 

Youth versus experience

The structure of United's first team squad shows a number of things. Yet again the team is in transition and, all things considered, Ferguson is doing a good job. With the biggest injury list ever under his management and the need to blood young players and constantly chop and change, he has performed miracles to take United to the top.

Anti-Glazer protesters bang on about money not being spent on top signings, but there is a wisdom about Gill and Ferguson that almost can't be matched elsewhere. 

Left to their own devices by their owners, they will easily meet the FFP regulations and it is Ferguson's decision (as he has reiterated many times) not to spend ridiculous amounts on fees and wages where there is no value.

Who can argue with the promotion of Cleverley and Welbeck, or the signing of Chicharito or Jones when fans are demanding that Wesley Sneijder be signed for £30 million and £250,000 a week.

Sir Alex is doing OK, so leave him alone.

Yes, he has made errors with Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, Hargreaves and Anderson, which have cost a lot of money. But look at Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. You can waste a lot of money buying "talent" so the alternative must always be to grow your own if you can.

Better the devil you know...

There will always be a need and an opportunity to balance youth with experience at Old Trafford.

In the next couple of seasons, you can see an experienced spine of Vidic, Carrick and Rooney being augmented by burgeoning talent like De Gea, Jones, Cleverley, Pogba, Welbeck and Hernandez, plus a whole host of others.

It is possible that Sir Alex will surprise us all this summer. Who would argue with Subotic, Modric and Van Persie at £100 million the lot; or for that matter Eriksen and Hazard or Gotze. Yes, it will give the Boss headaches in first team selection but, if everyone wants to play for United, those are the headaches he can manage.

Look at Dimitar Berbatov—he is aching to get in the first team, but loyal enough to stay sharp and fit and wait his turn.

That's what Fergie rightfully expects from his young players, too. 

A Golden Future

My gut feel is that Pogba, Fryers and Welbeck will all stay. Sir Alex needs them to—not just for the obvious reasons, but also to send a message to the truckload of talent coming behind.

When I look at the likes of William and Michael Keane, Larnell Cole, Jesse Lingard, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Davide Petrucci and even Kiko Macheda, I see players who want to stay and play at United. They have red through their veins, like Blackpool through a stick of rock.

This weekend, United's Academy plays Chelsea in the Youth Cup semi-final. Yesterday the Reserves went top of the Premier League. Both teams are chock full of young talent. 

These are the sorts of challenges that Sir Alex loves—trying to keep 40 talented footballers happy while trying to win every trophy and bring on young players by giving them top-level experience.

Don't you think Roberto Martinez, Steve Kean or even Harry Redknapp would relish these sort of challenges?

It is said that Andre Villas-Boas despaired at the lack of young talent available to augment his aging and waning first team resources. Chelsea and Manchester City have thrown hundreds of millions at their respective "projects."

Neither has the array or depth of young talent that Sir Alex has to juggle and Kenny Dalglish is even worse off.

If all Ferguson has to do is pay an obscene amount to Mino Raiola to have prospectively one of the best first team squads in Europe for the next five years, he'll probably be content.

In the meantime, a whole host of young players across the country—not just at United—need to think very carefully what their priorities are, reconnect with their dream and trust in the likes of Sir Alex.

Money isn't everything when innocent babies are being slaughtered in Syria. A sense of perspective and a dose of humility, like Sir Bobby Charlton still has in his seventies and Ryan Giggs has after 900 games would not go amiss.