The rumours about Paul Pogba just don’t stop these days.
For a man who didn’t seem keen to talk to the Manchester-based reporters last season, the Frenchman has been very vocal of late.
Recently Pogba has said the following: ‘There are things I cannot say otherwise I will get fined’;’ ‘Who knows what will happen in the next few months’; and, most bizarrely of all, ‘rumours are rumours, but it’s not me who is talking’.
The comments are playing into Barcelona’s hands, with Gerard Pique, Luis Suarez and the club’s vice-president, Jordi Mestre, all fanning the flames in the last couple of weeks.
For many Manchester United fans, enough is enough. They have seen this before with Cristiano Ronaldo, who repeatedly fluttered his eyelashes in Real Madrid’s direction while playing for United, but the Portuguese superstar produced match-winning displays on a regular basis report the MEN . That is the key difference.
Whatever happens with Jose Mourinho this season, one thing is for sure: Ed Woodward would loathe to lose Pogba following the ‘embarrassment’ of having to ask the Glazers to pay a world-record transfer fee for a player that left the club for free just four years previously.
And while Pogba may still be searching for Premier League and Champions League glory, he has been at the heart of United’s commercial revolution since joining the club in 2016.
A face that is recognisable the world over – who even unveiled his own Adidas collection in front of the Eiffel Tower earlier this year. This goes beyond just fans buying Pogba: 6 shirts. Not that it ultimately makes a difference to United.
Clubs typically receive 10-15% of the revenue their manufacturer generates from kit sales so Adidas, Nike et al reap the real benefits of those lucrative sponsorship deals once they pay the club their annual sum.
United, of course, still have seven years to run on their decade-long kit deal with Adidas, taking home £75m a year before kit sales are even factored in.
But you can’t underestimate Pogba’s reach – particularly on social media.
SportsPro have just named the 25-year-old as the most marketable athlete in the world, ahead of Anthony Joshua and Kylian Mbappe, and when you crunch the numbers it is hard to argue with them.

With a total social media following of just under 39 million, Pogba generates £4.42 in media value per follower because of a high engagement rate, according to sponsorship valuer Hookit. Neymar and Lionel Messi , who have close to 400m followers combined, make 67p and 70p respectively.
That is music to Woodward’s ears.
This article originally appeared on NorthWaleslive