Neil Humphreys: Manchester United should sell Paul Pogba now
France midfielder's departure, on club's terms, could send a message to others
Paul Pogba knew what he was doing. He waited until he was out of the country to say what everyone else already thinks.
He wants out of Manchester United. The relationship between flailing superstar and fading super club is broken beyond repair.
Pogba used a promotional event in Tokyo to announce, on the record, his intention to seek a "new challenge somewhere else".
His revelation was designed to destabilise a club that are seeking to reassert themselves, both in the transfer market and the English Premier League. His advisers are seeking to profit from his current employers' weakness.
For that reason, Pogba should be sold.
Rather than allow themselves to be strong-armed by a disgruntled employee, United's owners can cut their losses on a lost cause.
Pogba's decision to go public suggests that the Frenchman has adroitly pushed the club towards a crossroads, but that may be short-term thinking.
BIGGER ISSUES
Yes, the Red Devils find themselves in the unenviable position of either selling their most valuable performer, original bought for £89.3 million (S$154m), or keeping a polarising character that blows hot and cold more like a rusty air-con unit.
But there are bigger, long-term issues at play here. If United hold realistic aspirations of retaining their global status, then they surely cannot tolerate their star pupil speaking out of school.
Consider the last 20-odd years and count the number of times an unhappy Red Devil skipped away to a far-flung country to cynically let slip his intention to leave the club for a new (i.e. better) challenge.
Thumbs would suffice. It rarely happened.
Sir Alex Ferguson flogged his temperamental types, but only when he was good and ready. The club were kings.
And the obvious caveats at this juncture - that it's a different game now, player power rules and agents are in charge and so forth - also miss the point.
The current standoff between Pogba and United isn't really about the greedy state of the game, but the perilous state of United's position in the eyes of both their restless players and their rivals.
Pogba was no less unsettled last summer, but wisely stayed silent. Jose Mourinho's United were a stronger proposition back then, albeit marginally so.
But a sense of weakness pervades the place now.
Ed Woodward's boardroom seems archaic, when compared to the creative hives of sporting directors at Liverpool and Manchester City and misplaced loyalty earned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the coaching gig, despite his lack of elite experience.
There's a feeling that men like Mino Raiola, Pogba's agent, are poking away at the club like seagulls circling a beached whale.
Romelu Lukaku and David de Gea are also hovering, waiting to see how Pogba's announcement plays out, suggesting again that a cut-price sale to Real Madrid or elsewhere might open the floodgates.
Such an exodus didn't transpire when Cristiano Ronaldo left United for Real because the circumstances were different. The club still called the shots.
Ferguson convinced Ronaldo to stay, for another season, to facilitate the transition process. The Portuguese legend-in-waiting did as he was told. He also stayed quiet.
WENT PUBLIC
Only Pogba went public. Only Pogba, and presumably his advisers, believe that they can essentially bend the club to their will.
So United should sell, but on their terms. Pogba is 26 and has two years left on his contract, playing for a club under no financial obligation to sell.
United reportedly seek more than £100m to save face and offload an unreliable talent, but Real have already lavished £276m on six players and must trim the fat of a bloated squad before considering United's demands.
The Red Devils can wait. Pogba cannot. He's seeking to engineer a trade as he's fully aware that time is against him. There's always the option of Tottenham Hotspur's Christian Eriksen, for either Real or United.
Whatever happens, United can't be perceived as being bullied. With no Champions League football, an imbalanced squad and an uncertain manager, the Red Devils desperately need a show of strength, which isn't ordinarily achieved by selling the club's best player.
But Pogba's departure could send a message to others. Don't go public and don't hold United to ransom.
No one else ever did.
Pogba will leave, but only because his position is now untenable. He can't be allowed to linger any more than he can take charge from a sponsor's event in Tokyo.
When United and Pogba inevitably part ways, the Red Devils must dictate the terms of separation or risk a cruel summer of transfer disappointment.
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