Paul Pogba wanted Tottenham move but Antonio Conte ‘said no’ to Paratici

For all the anger towards Tottenham coach Antonio Conte this season, it seems that he saved them from a bullet marked ‘Paul Pogba’ last summer.

An Italian pundit has now revealed that Pogba wanted to re-unite with his old Juventus coach Antonio Conte at Tottenham rather than go back to Italy and re-join Juventus.

The pair had won the Scudetto twice together at Juventus and Pogba was desperate to recreate that magic, though obviously he figured without the revival of Oliver Skipp at Spurs.

Pogba has been a disaster at Juventus, with a series of injuries restricting him to just a couple of appearances. There has even been some talk of his contract being cancelled.

Italian pundit Massimo Brambati has now told TMW: “I’m going to Paul Pogba, bought as a valuable piece of the transfer market, which was supposed to relaunch Juventus in terms of the Scudetto and the Champions League, instead something horrible turned out.

“I was reminded of Redondo, who arrived at Milan and it was a real flop, but he arrived with a really important problem. Otherwise I don’t remember a player presented like this and paid so much in salary that he almost never sees the field due to various injuries.

“I didn’t like many things about his career at Juventus. The injury and his approach to it was negative. Starting from how he addressed the issue, not undergoing surgery. And then the management of his recovery also on social networks, where I would have expected more careful communication.

“They told me that he arrived at dinner already late, so it wasn’t a delay to a technical meeting but a retreat of at least 40 minutes or an hour. It’s an attitude that shouldn’t be accepted in any club, especially by a highly paid professional.

“And I ask myself: is there anyone co-responsible in this situation? Maybe whoever took it is responsible.

“I know that his first choice was Antonio Conte’s Tottenham but the coach said no to (managing director Fabio) Paratici to this option.”

Spurs instead signed Yves Bissouma from Brighton, though he has been restricted by a loss of form and fitness to eight Premier League starts.