Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo departed Real Madrid to join Juventus in a £100m deal last summer, the Los Blancos have not managed to find a suitable replacement for the star winger. The Portuguese ace spent nine seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu and left as the clubs all-time top goalscorer with 450 goals across all competitions. The 34-year-old Ronaldo helped Real Madrid to win three consecutive Champions League titles in a row over the past three seasons but the La Liga giants have declined after he left the club.
Real Madrid currently sits in third place on the La Liga table, 12 points behind leaders and fierce rivals Barcelona. The Los Blancos were also dumped out of the Copa del Rey across two legs by the Catalonians earlier in the season. Even a group of youngsters from Dutch side Ajax humiliated Real Madrid 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu and knocked them out of the Champions League as well. The Spanish side has changed two managers in a span of six months and now reappointed Zinedine Zidane to take the club back to the top.
Zidane has prioritized summer signings and wants to lure a big name player to the club and is linked with Manchester United superstar Paul Pogba. The 26-year-old midfielder has been immense for the English giants this season and been somewhat of a catalyst in helping Manchester United to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League and also compete for the top four in the Premier League.
The World Cup-winning Frenchman scored two penalties to earn Manchester United a crucial three points against West Ham United on Saturday. Pogba has now directly been involved in 22 goals for the Red Devils this season scoring 13 and assisting another nine in England’s top flight proving to be a very important player for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer since the Norwegian took over in December.
However, these impressive performances by Pogba have attracted Real Madrid and the player himself has revealed that he is keen on playing for the Los Blancos as it would be his dream to work with Zinedine Zidane. Clearly, the French boss is also trying to lure Pogba into joining Real Madrid in the summer transfer window however, United are preparing to keep hold of their talisman with one tactic.
Reports claim that Manchester United want to hand over Pogba the captain’s armband over the next few weeks on a permanent basis to keep him at Old Trafford away from the clutches of Real Madrid. Antonio Valencia will be leaving the club in the summer and Ashely Young will also be given the role of a squad player soon. Chris Smalling and David De Gea have been the other two players to wear the leader’s armband but United will plan on handing it to Pogba for the remainder of the season and announce it permanently as well.
