Mino Raiola has revealed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic jokingly threatened to “break his legs” if he had allowed Paul Pogba to join any other club besides Manchester United.
Raiola who represented both players, along with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, brokered separate deals that took all three stars to United in the summer — with Pogba’s €105 million world record deal the most significant of them all.
“Zlatan told me, ‘Do not transfer Pogba elsewhere or I will break your legs’,” Raiola told Volkskrant.nl.
The duo have given Jose Mourinho plenty of options on the field, but while Ibrahimovic settled quickly and has already scored four goals for the Red Devils, Pogba has struggled to come to terms with life back at Old Trafford.
However, the Frenchman finally delivered a performance worthy of his enormous price tag, when he scored in the 4-1 victory over defending champions Leicester City on Saturday.
Prior to that game, Raiola, made known his feelings that Mourinho is not playing Pogba in his favourite position, which is on the left of an attacking trio.
“Pogba still has to find his place in the team,” Raiola added. “My preferred position for him is left attacking midfielder.
“With his power, stamina and technique… Pogba would be unplayable in that role. But Mourinho takes the decisions.”
With Wayne Rooney dropping to a bench role in the Leicester game and Pogba reveling in his attacking role, it remains to be seen if Saturday’s emphatic performance could sway Mourinho into keeping the same formation for the rest of the season.
-espnfc