TURIN, Italy –
Paul Pogba will be looking to revive his career and put Juventus back on track after returning to the legendary Italian club in a remarkable deal for the Bianconeri on Monday.
Six years after selling Pogba to Manchester United for a then-world-record sum of around €105m ($116m), Juventus have re-signed the France midfielder on a free transfer.
Pogba first joined Juventus in 2012, with Italian club United paying just £800,000 (around $1million) in matching compensation for a player who was then just a precocious teenager.
Pogba, 29, has signed a four-year deal with Juventus and has reportedly turned down a higher salary at Paris Saint-Germain.
More than 1,000 fans welcomed Pogba home when he arrived at the club’s medical center on Saturday. They had started congregating there since dawn and when their hero arrived there was a huge crowd chanting his name, along with chants of ‘who cares Lukaku, we’ve got Paul Pogba’ – in an argument with the acrimonious rivals Inter Milan. who signed Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea last month.
Pogba was a fan favorite during his first spell at Juventus, helping the team win the Serie A title in each of his four seasons with the club. He also won two Italian Cup titles and two Italian Super Cups and won a Champions League runners-up medal in 2015 before returning to United.
However, his second spell at United was underwhelming, especially after he joined with so much fanfare amid a series of glitzy videos.
Pogba made 226 appearances in six injury-hit seasons, scoring 39 goals. During that time he won the World Cup with France in 2018 but his performances for United never quite matched those of his national team as United managers were unable to find his best role.
He won two trophies – the League Cup and the Europa League – both in his first season at United.
In his first spell after joining the England team’s academy aged 16, Pogba made just seven appearances – all as a substitute – for the senior team before it ended sour when he let his contract expire and too Juventus made the switch.
Almost exactly 10 years later he re-signed for Juventus and again as a free agent.
Pogba will be reunited with manager Massimiliano Allegri, who has overseen the Frenchman’s last two seasons at Juventus.
Allegri returned last year – two years after his sacking – to replace Andrea Pirlo. But Juventus ended the season in fourth place for the second straight season.
Pogba is the second former United player to be signed by Juventus on a free transfer in recent days, after midfielder Angel Di Maria signed a one-year deal on Friday after seven years at PSG.