No Pogba deadline

LONDON. — Paul Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola has not set Manchester United a deadline by which to complete the signing of the Frenchman from Juventus, it is understood.

While all parties are keen to conclude a deal as soon as possible, Raiola is not believed to have set a particular date, report the Manchester Evening News.

Pogba’s France teammate Blaise Matuidi is United’s fallback option should Pogba decide against returning to England’s north-west. However, Raiola is thought to have approved United’s proposed package for Pogba and United do not see an issue with meeting the Italian champions’ asking price for the France international. The 23-year-old refused to publicly clarify his future in a brief interview on ESPN at the ESPYs awards in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, where he was asked what he would do if Mourinho called him.

“I don’t know. Let’s see,” he replied. “For the moment I’m at Juve and I’m happy. I don’t know where I want to go.”

Pogba added United were his “first family” and, when pressed on a possible return to Manchester, smiled and replied: “I don’t know. We’ll see, we’ll see.”

The Frenchman’s public show of diplomacy was such that when the broadcasters unfurled a United, a Juventus and a Real Madrid shirt and asked him to pick one he insisted he would ‘take three’. — The Mirror.