Barcelona launch €70m bid for Juventus star Paul Pogba but must fight off Chelsea

Barcelona launch €70m bid for Juventus star Paul Pogba but must fight off Chelsea

Barcelona will go all out to sign Paul Pogba, the player who Europe's biggest sides are admiring. President Josep Maria Bartomeu knows that the club should not let this future star slip away and Luis Enrique is totally on board with the operation - which also has an electoral "flavour". And Barcelona have made formal contact with Juventus, to try and sign the midfielder as soon as possible. The first offer is €70million to be paid in installments, and the player will remain at Juventus until the summer of 2016 unless FIFA do not lift the transfer ban on Barcelona this summer. If that did happen, Barcelona would offer €10m more.

The negotiations will be in the hands of Barcelona's international director of football, who has only been in the role for a few weeks, Ariedo Braida. The Italian knows Bartomeu's desire to sign Pogba and in the last meeting between the two he ensured the president that he would work hard on the issue during the coming months, and that everything was on the right track. Braida is convinced he will get the player despire the competition across Europe, and sees it as a personal challenge. 

Braida arrived at Barcelona with the Pogba card under his arm. His contracts in the player's "entorno" (environment) and with Juventus were key in Bartomeu hiring him. Braida knows that this operation is the one in play, and others should be put on hold to prioritise this deal. Barcelona hope to announce something official during June, and because of this they have made the first proposition to Juventus. The technical team are also working on other positions, like right-back, striker and possibly even another central midfielder, but the priority is Pogba. However the pursuit of Pogba ends, it should finish soon, so the new sports "project" can be planned. 

Braida has spoken on various occasions with the sporting director of Juventus, Giuseppe Marotta. The directors of The Old Lady have told him it would take a huge deal to sell Pogba this summer, something that Barcelona are unable to make.

The transfer is very difficult, but it seems that Juventus may look favourably on the structure of Barcelona's deal. This is just a first step, but things look good, although Juventus have not given the OK - they may be waiting for a mega-offer to appear on the horizon. Clubs like PSG and Chelsea may break their transfer records to sign this star

But all is not bound and tied. While conversations with Juventus are going well, with the footballer Barcelona are a little stranded. Braida has a good relationship with his agent, Mino Raiola and both seem happy for him to spend that extra year at Juventus, until 2016. However, the problem is that Raiola is asing for a huge amount of money for Pogba, numbers that would suit a true world-class crack, and that may cause some bad feelings inside the Barcelona dressing room. 

Raiola also keeps open communication with other clubs, although the player only wants to listen to Chelsea and Barcelona, not PSG. Jose Mourinho's team is, without doubt, the principal competitor in the operation, especially given that they are open to signing him this summer. Mourinho has spoken to the player to try and convince him, making it clear that Chelsea will use their entire budget to bring him to Stamford Bridge. The numbers that Chelsea can come up with are available to very few clubs at the moment. Juventus would prefer to sell him to Barcelona and keep him for the extra year, but money talks. 

The French international wants to win everything he can and knows moving to Barcelona would be a key step in his career. Braida hopes to have something clear with sufficient time to announce it before the Barcelona elections take place in July. 

-Sporting attributes-

In the last meeting with the sporting committee, Luis Enrique indicated the importance of signing a new central midfielder. Enrique thinks Pogba will come straight into Barcelona's XI, with Sergio Busquets still in his natural position. Pogba could play on the right-side of central midfield, providing balls to the forwards and joining attacks himself. He would also give Barcelona a lot of physicality. Pogba is similar to Koke, another Barcelona target in that respect. With Dani Alves and Pedro's future still in the balance, the sooner the Pogba deal is sorted, the sooner Barcelona can work on other things.