The Arsenal transfer rumors keep flying around everywhere, with the latest ones bringing news of their interest in the very talented young midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus, who only recently left the Premier League to Italy.
According to ITV, Arsenal have been looking into the former Manchester United player, who left the club in 2012 after not signing a new contract, allowing Juventus to pick him on a free transfer. He only started in 18 league matches last season, finding it hard to become a consistent member of the midfield trio, consisting of Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal.
Pogba came off the bench in the recent Italian Super Cup to score the opening goal for Juventus in their 4-0 win over Lazio, but there are rumors that suggest he might not be the happiest camper because he is probably 4th in line in the Juventus midfield depth chart.
Can Arsenal offer him more? Pogba is valued at around £20 million, considered as one of the top U-21 talents in the world, already making two appearances for the French national team. But Pogba is still far from a polished player, with an unspecified position, being able to play rather well all across the midfield, but not bringing the same level of effectiveness each time he plays.
The bigger question might be if Arsenal can offer him more playing time than in Juventus. The plan at Juve this season is to start resting Andrea Pirlo (34) more and more, giving Pogba more opportunities and minutes than before. It’s hard to see Arsenal using Pogba on a regular basis, or at least more than he’s been used so far by Juventus.
And despite his value, Arsenal aren’t exactly known as big spenders, which leaves most rather pessimistic about their chance to give Juventus the kind of money they want, not to mention it being the end of August, and replacing Pogba with a similar prospect at this point of the transfer window will be close to impossible.