After leaving Manchester United in 2012 because of a lack of game time, Paul Pogba has made a grand return to his former club for a world record transfer fee.
The 23-year-old was signed by the Red Devils this summer for £89 million, which could rise to £100 million.
The transfer means that the Premier League will have the world's costliest player in its ranks; the last time the Premier League held this distinction was when Alan Shearer left Blackburn for Newcastle United for a then world-record fee of £15 million.
Pogba has revealed the reason behind his departure from Juventus – the club where he won four Serie A titles and established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world.
"I came back because I wanted to and United showed that they wanted me back. We have a good team who wants to win they league again with a big manager, top players and a new team. My ambition is always to be no.1, always be the best. To be the best is to win the league, that is the objective of everyone. That's what we want to do." Pogba said.
Returning to the club where he first joined as a teenager, Pogba expressed his ambitions during his second spell, "We want to go back to the Champions League because I know that's where we belong."
His agent, Mino Raiola had this to say on his client's move to United, "He clearly told me what he wanted. For Paul, Manchester has always been his home and I gave him the heads up about everything happening in Miami."
Paul Pogba, as per his agent, had an offer from five to six clubs, including Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. Zinedine Zidane was an admirer of his fellow Frenchmen, but the 23-year-old chose rainy Manchester over sunny Madrid.
Barcelona had a deal for Pogba with Juventus
In a surprising revelation, Barcelona's sporting director, Albert Soler disclosed about the negotiations they had with Juventus for Pogba, "Last year we reached a deal with Juventus for us to have a priority option when they sold Pogba. This summer we decided that there were players that suited us better on a sporting level."
Barcelona went on to sign the duo of Dennis Suarez and Andre Gomes which paved the way for Pogba to join Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford. The Red Devils have done some of their best business in recent times this summer, signing the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan along with Paul Pogba.
On playing with Zlatan, Pogba said, "Zlatan is like the big brother of everyone I would say; he always makes jokes makes everyone relax and on the pitch he is a winner. He will really help the team."