Manchester City will no longer pursue the signing of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba – paving the way for Manchester United to re-sign the French star.
According to the Manchester Evening News, incoming City boss Pep Guardiola has removed the player from his summer wish list.
Jose Mourinho’s United could now lodge a British record bid for the 23-year-old.
Pogba has been linked with a £60million return to his former club, who he left in 2012 due to a lack of first-team opportunities.
That comes despite United’s refusal to enter a bidding war for Pogba when he looked set to leave Juve last summer.
High level sources insisted at the time that the club were looking forward, not back.That could change with Mourinho now on board.
Midfield enforcers like Claude Makelele and Nemanja Matic were pivotal to his title-winning sides in two spells at Chelsea.
And he could look to add a dominant force in his United engine room as he bids to win the Premier League in his first season at the club.
Guardiola has already signed a box-to-box midfielder in Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan.
He is expected to add at least one more midfielder before the close of the transfer window.
The new City manager wants to make as many as six more signings this summer to revamp the squad he inherited from Manuel Pellegrini.
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