Football
ESPN staff 7y

Jose Mourinho: Paul Pogba's €105m Man United deal will soon seem 'cheap'

Jose Mourinho says the record-breaking transfer fee that Manchester United spent to reacquire Paul Pogba last summer will soon appear to be a bargain.

United sent Juventus €105 million (£89.3m) in August to bring Pogba back to Old Trafford after originally allowing him to leave in 2012 for just £800,000.

The high price has led to increased attention on the 23-year-old's performance this season, but Mourinho has continued to defend his midfielder.

"I think he has phenomenal conditions, but I think the scrutiny on him is very difficult," Mourinho told multiple English newspapers. "When he plays very, very well, which he does many, many times, people think it is normal.

"Yet, when he has a game when he is not so happy and he doesn't perform so well, ­pundits and even supporters go strong on him. But that's the price of being who he is and his transfer price."

And the Man United manager says the world-record cost that the club paid is only the start of some astronomical transfer fees to come.

"I am pretty sure that next summer some players with only half his quality probably will cost the same money or more so I am waiting for that moment to release him from the scrutiny," Mourinho said.

"I think in a couple of years you will realise he was cheap but I have to admit that not many clubs have this vision of anticipation of what can happen in the near future.

"A few years ago £25 million was a phenomenal player. Today, £25 million is not even a player, it is a prospect of a player. Now, if you want to buy a good prospect, a good 20-year-old player who can be fantastic, you are paying as if the player is already a big player.

"I think next summer can bring a few surprises at this level and probably Paul will lose this status as the world's most expensive player, which will probably be a good thing."

Mourinho also praised Pogba's performance on Thursday in the Europa League against St Etienne, in which the France international managed to hit the woodwork for an eighth time this season.

"He gave us an incredible balance, recovering the ball, starting the building up from the back was really impressive and at the top of the pitch he is a guy that can score goals," Mourinho said.

"Imagine the eight posts and it would be an amazing record. So, you know, step by step -- still very, very young, he can be fantastic."

Mourinho defended another young player in 21-year-old Luke Shaw, insisting that the left-back would not be sold this summer despite leaving him out of his plans for a fourth straight game.

"He had a very ugly injury, really, really ugly," Mourinho said of Shaw. "Not just from the physical point of view, but also by the mental impact. So this season he has had a couple of small injuries and he needs to adapt.

He knows what I like in a defender, he knows that I like stability, that I don't like mistakes, that for me it is to trust a player totally and he has to work to get it.

"And when he is on the pitch again he has to try to give me that step by step because he is still only a young player, sometimes people forget he is only a young player with a lot to learn but I like the player and I like the boy.

"No, he will be here for sure, that is out of the question."

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