Josep Maria Bartomeu Says Paul Pogba Too Expensive for Barcelona to Sign in 2016

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said the club were unable to afford the signing of Paul Pogba in 2016.

The France international left Juventus to join Manchester United for a sum of £90 million following months of speculation regarding a possible transfer to a number of different clubs.

Barcelona was one of the teams regularly cited as a possible transfer destination for the then-Juventus man.

Speaking ahead of Barcelona's UEFA Champions League showdown with United on Wednesday, Bartomeu confirmed the Blaugrana were keen to bring Pogba to the Camp Nou, per Moises Llorens and Sam Marsden of ESPN FC:

"In the summer of 2015, Paul Pogba was playing in Turin and we simply told Juve that, if one day they decide to sell the player, we would be interested.

"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. 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."

Pogba was rated as one of the best midfielders in the game when he rejoined United for a second spell three years ago.

Since then, he has enjoyed some highs in his career, most notably the 2018 FIFA World Cup success with France. Pogba also won the EFL Cup and the UEFA Europa League with United in his first season back at the club.

However, he's failed to find the consistency needed to be considered as one of the best players on the planet. In many respects, the 2018-19 term epitomises the player, as he enjoyed a purple patch in the middle of the campaign that's been bookended by frustrating spells of form.

Per Sky Sports Statto, the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager triggered an improvement in the midfielder's productivity:

In United's most recent outing, a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Pogba was particularly poor:

It would have been fascinating to see how the United man had fared if he had ended up at Barcelona.

At the time, the Blaugrana had Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar in attack, a trio that decimated defences in domestic and European competition. The prospect of Pogba knitting play together behind them would have been an ominous one for opponents.

While he's unlikely to make a move to Barcelona any time soon, speculation is beginning to intensify over Real Madrid's interest in the player.

Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane has spoken about Pogba recently:

According to Juan Ignacio Garcia-Ochoa of Marca, Real are closing in on the signing of Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, and once his signature is secured, they will turn their attentions to bringing in Pogba.

The summer is set to be interesting for the Frenchman with that in mind. But for now, his focus will be on United and finding a way of getting past Barcelona and into the Champions League semi-finals.