Guardiola: Raiola Offer Me Pogba In January

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It’s an offer Pep Guardiola refused but in light of the France international’s brace of goals in the Manchester derby, he may wish he accepted the chance to buy Paul Pogba in January.

The Times reports the Manchester City boss as claiming 26-year-old Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola as contacted him and offered him the chance to take the player across the city from Old Trafford.

The claim chimes with several reports earlier this year that the Italian agent was hawking his client to Europe’s elite clubs.

Pogba reacted incredulously on social media, tweeting to his followers, “Say what?”

Not as incredulously as his supporters reacted when he strode onto the Etihad turf this evening with blue streaks in his hair.

In the same conversation, Raiola is said to have given the Manchester City boss to take Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 29, at the same time. Guardiola passed on that deal as well, with the Armenian ending up at Arsenal as part of the swap deal which took Alexis Sanchez, 30, to Manchester United.

Guardiola, like other managers including Sir Alex Ferguson, enjoys a torrid relationship with Raiola, with grudges borne from the Catalan’s sale of Ibrahimovic in 2011, meaning the Swede missed out on a Champions League winners medal, a glaring omission on his CV.

Pogba scoring the goal which wrecked Manchester City’s title party is a pyrrhic victory, saving only Manchester United’s face.