Manchester United Transfer News: Paul Pogba Bid Reported by Italian Media

Manchester United have reportedly offered Juventus more than £60 million to open negotiations concerning a potential return to the Premier League for midfielder Paul Pogba.

The 21-year-old rising star is a hot commodity as the winter window begins to wind down. He's been linked to Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Hannah Duncan of Metro passed along a report from Italian outlet La Stampa about the United talks:

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According to Turin-based newspaper La Stampa, the United hierarchy have opened the bidding with Juve at a whopping £61 million. The club are also willing to offer the 21-year-old a contract worth just short of £7 million per year, despite Pogba having signed a five-year deal with the Old Lady only a couple of months ago.

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Pogba spent the final few years of his youth career with Manchester United. He then got called up to the first team in 2011. The France international only made a handful of appearances with the club before moving to Juventus the next summer.

Since that point, he's developed into one of the best central midfielders in Europe. His ability to control a match is tremendous for a player of his age. He combines high-end dribbling and vision with great distribution skills to serve as the perfect pivot in the middle.

BBC Sport provided comments from Bianconeri manager Massimiliano Allegri, who stated Pogba has the potential to become one of the world's top players: "Pogba is young, even though we treat him like a veteran. Ballon d'Or? I think you would need to win a Champions League, European Championship or World Cup, but he's got the potential to get there."

So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that United are interested in bringing him back. It will be interesting to see whether the other clubs with reported interest become more active in talks now that United has set the initial price tag.

Manager Louis van Gaal has worked hard to find the perfect lineup for the Red Devils during his first season in charge. He hasn't found it quite yet. Pogba could very well be the missing piece he needs to bring everything together down the stretch of the campaign.