With Paul Pogba’s record move to United edging ever closer, there is a lot of debate on the fees the club are willing to pay for the French midfielder. The amount they are goimg to shell out seems to be around a £100 million .
Now Pogba is not the only one who gets paid in this transaction. Obviously, his agent Mino Raiola gets a part of the transfer fee. How much you ask? Well, it’s speculated that Raiola receives between 20-25% of the transfer fees plus further add-ons.
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So if you do the math, it comes up to around £20-25 million . Assuming it’s £25 million, that is €30 million which is quite a large sum of money. Now in this market, you might think that’s not much but there are still players who have already been sold for lesser than that,
Let's take a look at 5 players United can buy or could have bought in this transfer window:
5) Georginio Wijnaldum – €27.5 million
Wijnaldum is a player who impressed many with his lung bursting performances for Newcastle last season. The box o box midfielder was the toon’s highest scorer last season with 11 goals.
Newcastle were relegated despite his efforts but he found a route out of the club by joining Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool for 27.5 million. Klopp has made several shrewd signings in this transfer window and Wijnaldum might prove to be very useful in his season.
Wijnaldum might not be a Mourinho kind of player but he is extremely hard working and would have surely been worth the money the club might have paid for him. He also had 6 assists for Newcastle last year which shows his abilty to pick a pass.
Wijnaldum also has great versatility and can play in a number of positions including the full-back role.
4) Fabinho – €20 million
Fabinho is AS Monaco's right back, and the player has made quite a name for himself in the last one year. He joined Real Madrid’s B team in 2012 as a teenager and was eventually loaned out by the club to Monaco.
He established himself in the starting XI and is always one of the first names on the team sheet. United have been very impressed by the player and Mourinho is considering making a bid for the right back.
Fabinho has worked under Jose a few times during his Madrid days and also shares the same agent as Matteo Darmian. But the ‘Special One’ did reveal that he is only planning on getting 4 players and it looks likely Pogba will be the 4th.
The 22-year-old is also a goalscoring defender netting 8 times last season in Ligue 1. If the Pogba move does fall through then Fabinho might prove to be a wise choice.
3) Santi Cazorla – €30 million
Now realistically speaking Arsenal would never sell Santi Cazorla. The playmaker has been a very important cog in the Arsenal midfield over the past few years. He showed how valuable he is to the team last season when the Gunners suffered without him
Cazorla has the ability to play the ball forward with precision and ease and he is currently worth only €30 million. Wenger had found a gem when he purchased the Spaniard from Malaga in 2012.
Before the arrival of Mesut Ozil, Cazorla was Arsenal’s primary chance creator and once he was moved into a deeper role along with Francis Coquelin he continued to excel. Cazorla missed a majority of last season through injury because of which he might be available on the cheap as well.
2) Jamie Vardy – €23 million
Before Jamie Vardy signed a new contract at Leicester he had an incredibly affordable release clause. At €23 million the striker would be a steal for any club, which is the reason why Arsene Wenger triggered the cause.
But unfortunately the striker decided to stay at Leicester and Wenger was denied by the 29-year-old. Vardy scored an incredible 24 goals finishing just behind Harry Kane in the race for the golden boot.
United did purchase Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer this season, but if they would have failed in their endeavor for the Swede, Vardy would have been a very viable option. The forward recently stated that staying at his current club was an easy decision to make. Would it have been so easy if United came calling?
1) Mario Gotze – €26 million
This name probably stands out the most in this list. Yes you might say Mario Gotze hasn’t been at the peak of his powers in the last couple of seasons or so, but there is no denying the playmaker’s quality.
It was always going to be difficult for him to earn a spot in a highly talented Bayern Munich team ever since he made the move to Bayern from Dortmund three years ago. But now the World Cup winner is back at his first club.
Gotze at his best can unlock any defence, and has brilliant dribbling ability. As a teenager, he was considered Germany’s answer to Lionel Messi. Any player to be even compared to the Argentine's standards must be special.
United were even linked with Gotze in several windows but never made a move for him. Will they come to regret it?
