He wouldnt have a stable of coveted players for long if signing with him ruled out transfers to the major clubs.
Paul Pogba
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And we have some of our own fans defending this twat.
Out of curiosity, did you read the whole Interview?
Well not really. I mean it’s only a circus here on the caf becuase let’s face it nobody who isn’t on this forum really gives a feck about a tweet from some Journo saying a fat Italian thinks we are sh*t.
Its not great but it’s not exactly devastating, just a shock that players align themselves with the greedy feck in the first place.
Is Jorge Mendes hated here? He did get De Gea the best wages for a keeper in the world, even when De Gea was not at his best. He constantly flirted with Madrid as well, but he never called out on SAF nor has speak shit about the club.
I do think its possible to get great deals for the players without being a complete dick, why do I think this? Because pretty much any top agent does it besides Riaola.
I think the opposite actually. If we had a great winger on the right instead of Pogba, we would've been a lot closer to City this year. The ball retention is only an issue in bigger games against high pressing teams and we have no problems defending / keeping clean sheets in those games, so I'm not too worried.
On the flip side, the draws against teams that play low blocks continues to be a big issue - Bruno's arrival improved us a bit but when he's off form, we still go to shit. Even beyond that, we just have no one who can create chaos against a set defence. Rashford / Greenwood want to get in behind, Martial used to be alright at beating people but he hardly does that anymore (esp at CF), Bruno can't really do it etc. You just really need one player who, when you isolate 1v1 against an opposition fullback, will make you a few chances a game - every single top side has this type of player but us it seems.
In fact, if you look at the stats across the PL, in things like progressive carries, carries into final 3rd, carries into penalty area etc., the only United player that shows up consistently is Rashford. And we know how inconsistent he can be doing this - being a great dribbler is not his primary strength. I think anyone amongst the leaderboards there - Grealish, Sterling, Neto, Barnes, Mahrez, Mane, Traore, Bernardo would improve us significantly. (Some of these play on the left but just throwing some names of players out there as a general idea. They're all quite different from each other individually, but would solve the same problem functionally).
In fairness I'm not sure Mendes would have gotten Ibrahimovich out of Barcelona at the transfer fee he did.
Having read Zlatan's book it's clear Riaola has his own style that will not sit well with supporters. However it is certainly effective in getting his clients what they want; and in certain situations (like the one mentioned) it's more effective than anyone else.
Players wouldn't be paying him millions if he wasn't benefiting them to the tune of millions.
This is chicken and egg that will never be realised. Raiola isn't going anywhere unless jail or health does him in.
Yeah I think this is more just Haaland aside though. Generally speaking he's a difficult person to deal with and clubs should not succumb to him even if his cards include very good players like Pogba. There is no shortage of superb talent in my opinion and the most successful clubs in the past 3 years or so happen to be Raiola free (Bayern, Liverpool, City).
There's a couple things here.
-- >If we bring in a good right wing, say Raphina or similar, I believe this will upgrade our right wing spot. Not because the player is a bigger talent than Greenwood, but because they provide more natural width and therefore better balance to the team. We would be able to pull the opposition from side to side easier and create wider pockets to play into for Bruno/Rashford/Martial (or whoever the striker is).
--> If we bring in a faster center back, we are able to step up higher in the pitch by way of pressing and it can create more forced errors and greater chance creation.
^ A combination of the above two, even if the signings aren't "world class", can have a tremendous impact on the team. I'd argue moreso than Paul Pogba, who has lately even played out left, or has himself been inconsistent or injured. He's great when he's on point, but he's rarely on point for more than say 5 games in a row.
I agree the players are happy with him otherwise they would have fire him already. But all Im saying is I think there are better ways to get your clients good wages/moves and insulting the players current club and their figures seems unncessary to me.
Absolute nightmare scenario.
It's not just that tweet, how many times have we heard from Raiola saying Pogba isn't happy etc, Raiola even had a fued with Woodward and had to apologise. Then his brother enjoys wading in whilst on TV too. There was also the Jose vs Pogba fiasco, its not just the Caf that creates the circus.
There's no doubting Pogba and his skills, it's what comes with Pogba, his agent, brother etc, its time to get away from all of that
I know many will disagree, but I'd rather swear off Raiola clients altogether, even if it means no Haaland / Pogba etc. The guy is trash, disrespecting us at every turn, who the feck does he think he is?
If there are players who use him and we're interested im sure there are ways of getting in touch to make it clear that we would like to negotiate them, sans their piece of shite agent. If they're interested they can find a new one, simple.
Regarding Pogba, it just feels like he'll be off of a free again. Shame as he's a great player who o be fair, wasn't given the correct support here, playing with some absolute dross under some terrible regimes.
On the other hand he hasn't stepped up as the leader many of us expected, which is an equal shame.
Ah well. No more lowering ourselves to Raiola going forward and I for one will be a happy man.
If there are players who use him and we're interested im sure there are ways of getting in touch to make it clear that we would like to negotiate them, sans their piece of shite agent. If they're interested they can find a new one, simple.
Regarding Pogba, it just feels like he'll be off of a free again. Shame as he's a great player who o be fair, wasn't given the correct support here, playing with some absolute dross under some terrible regimes.
On the other hand he hasn't stepped up as the leader many of us expected, which is an equal shame.
Ah well. No more lowering ourselves to Raiola going forward and I for one will be a happy man.
True but it's part of his overall character that means he's happy to shamelessly blackmail, threaten and coerce clubs into getting his desired outcome. With that personality you take the bad with the good I guess.
I imagine there's a strategic element to it also. There certainly was regarding his shithousery when negotiating Ibra out of Barcelona.
It obviously an strategy, that's why I think the club should make an statement and say we won't negotiate with any Riaola player.
He's that way because the clubs allow him to, players are with him because they know he can get them good deals/moves, as soon as the doors start closing for him players will start jumping the ship.
I think he's been a huge influence on a considerable part of the fans turning on Pogba.
They will probably try to flog us Aaron Ramsey.
In my mind, he's good as gone. We should be looking to revamp our midfield from a double pivot to single, if we can get an actual DM who has a positional discipline.
The club would have to make a judgment as to whether the negatives of making such a decision outweigh the positives. With Fergie at the helm the decision would be and was much easier. Nowadays I'm not so sure.
What if Bruno signed up with Raiola tomorrow?
What if Ole felt we had a realistic chance to sign Haaland this year or next?
The top 25 clubs would all have to take the stand together and in truth a cabal of billion pound businesses conspiring to blackball an agent who's motives (however distasteful his methods) are to get the best deal from their client is probably equally distasteful.
He's been gone for a long time. He has all the power in terms of negotiation and will sit his contract out and move on for a free, picking up a nice bonus along the way. To be fair to the lad he probably he is obviously competitive and wants to win things.
Exactly. Especially a Champions league which is the only thing he's missing. And to be honest, we are very far from winning that in the next 3 years.
Pogba was never worth the drama he brings. And people still think Mino talks all this shit without his consent. Haha
The-Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt and some United fans need to stop being battered housewives thinking this will change. Just wait until, if, PP gets his mega contract extension at United. He can go back to coasting while Mino tells us we’re lucky to have him grace us with his presence.
The-Nile isn’t just a river in Egypt and some United fans need to stop being battered housewives thinking this will change. Just wait until, if, PP gets his mega contract extension at United. He can go back to coasting while Mino tells us we’re lucky to have him grace us with his presence.
Yup, I can't see us getting more than 25m for him. If he can't get 350k a week this summer at Juve, then he will get in on a free next year. Juve are experts at signing players on free transfer.
The hell of it is that players, specifically one like PP, don’t need a dbag agent talking crap to get a good deal, yet here we are. People can say what they want but to me agent represents the player, not the other way around. Jorge Mendez maybe just as cunning but he always keeps it respectful.
And in all honesty I am surprised all big clubs haven’t colluded to ban Mino Raiola from the club. Let’s see him trying to sell players to 2nd string clubs who can’t afford mega deals. There are literally 5-6 clubs that can afford his players.
Disageee with this line of reasoning. Pogba will be desperate to be playing for France in the Euros and WC. If he decides to leave on a free then we can just as easily let him rot in the reserves and probably cost him his place in the France team. And frankly with his inconsistency, I would question how much demand there would really be for his services after a year of reserve football (given he hasn’t been pulling up trees beforehand either).
People might say this is immature(or similar) from the club, but it sends a clear message to the Raiola types that if you want to drag the club through the mud and be a dick, you get treated like one in return.
I think quite a few share that sentiment. Listened to the United pod on the Athletic and Mitten seems to be quite accepting of all agents, thinking it's just a sign of the times. And while that may be the case, what this is first and foremost about, is how much money the player can get out of the club. If a club wants to sign a player on the condition he dump his agent the club will have to financially motivate the player I guess.
Still waiting for some serious regulation of agents and their fees.
I'd let him go if it meant bringing in Grealish and Rice.
The dream.
The dream.
Sign of the times is a poor excuse. Players can get paid very well with a 'civilized' agent that builds relationships and not shits on the clubs that are paying him. Its not like Mendes' clients are NOT getting paid, look at some of the players he has in his roster.
+£100m. But yes, that would be fantastic. You don’t replace Pogba with like for like. Even if you could, at his best he was still a square peg in a round hole.
I think Pogba is still so unique that when he goes you can't replace him. His sheer physical size and presence along with his touch, control and technical ability are unparalleled. He should be absolutely ideal for the PL.
You'll likely laugh at this but I like Josh DaSilva from Brentford as a Pogba-lite alternative.
he has all the right ingredients to be a truly brilliant player. 3-4 years ago I thought we had found the next Bryan Robson with his bursts into the box. It’s a shame, he will be one of those players remembered as never fulfilling his potential.
I hope we keep him if I'm honest but I'm at the point with the whole Raiola stuff where if you gave me Rice and Grealish I think as a club we'd likely be better off.
He needs to either sign and publicly commit in the summer or bugger off.
i agree with this. Things have been a lot calmer from his agent in the past 6 months. It wouldn’t not surprise me if he signs a new Contract. But we certainly don’t want him running out his contract. It would be a serious kick in the teeth for him to leave for free (almost, was it £300k?) twice. But also there are some players who would give their all on their last 12 months, where it might be worth keeping them. I don’t see that with Pogba, I expect he would be missing 1/2 the season. Keeping him until his contract runs out would be of minimal value to us.
so yes, sign or leave this summer.
It would have the risks for sure, but then again how many players does Riaola have to actually affect our transfer strategy? Besides Haaland he has no one we are interested in. In a win/lose situation it would be way worse for Riaola to lose ManUtd than us losing Riaola and his clients.
Cutting nose off despite the face. There will always be clubs who deal with him.
If it’s not Raiola, there will be another obnoxious agent to take his place.
top footballers are rare, if we have to dance with the devil, then so be it.
Name me 1 other obnoxious agent like him that goes around taking the piss come rain or shine?
thats not the point, and you know it. I frankly don’t have a list of agents to hand.
So what if he’s fecking awful, he has the upper hand, and other clubs will deal with him. He’s a necessary evil.
As of today he has Lingard and Pogba where he could be the difference between us receiving £80m, us receiving £55m and/or us keeping Pogba (if that's what the club wants). So as of now his value is somewhere between a large 8 figure difference in fees and keeping a good player.
Likewise he could be the difference between us signing Haaland and having a great centre forward for a decade and us having to settle for an inferior option. Likewise he could be the difference between facilitating a deal for De Ligt in the future or not.
Finally there's the opportunity cost of writing off all future talent that he'll inevitably represent.
If the downsides were small every club would have stamped out Raiola (and other agents) by now.
It’s to spite the face. But yes, Raoila’s face isn’t worth keeping anyway.
Couldn't care less. Riola should just shut it and show us how good he is by securing Pogba a great move for massive amount. If he can't he should keep his fat gob shut.
We would be a laughing stock if we lost him on a free twice , this needs to be sorted this summer.