Paul Pogba is a very 21st century transfer... Manchester United reveals £100m deal in social media blitz times for overseas markets
- Paul Pogba has rejoined former club Manchester United in a £100m deal
- His announcement was revealed via several social media videos
- CARRAGHER: Can Pogba deliver like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard?
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Emerging from the darkness, a silhouette against the bright lights and drifting smoke, Paul Pogba looks like a boxer about to embark on his pre-fight ring walk in a heavily branded black hoodie.
Dramatic music reminiscent of X Factor accompanies the moody 10-second clip. On another, longer version, Pogba appears holding a football as if to remind us what he does for a living.
It ends with him turning to the camera and declaring 'I'm back', as though this is the sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster.
Paul Pogba is once again a Manchester United player after joining in a £100m transfer
United released a video via Twitter of Pogba to announce his return from Juventus
The video uploaded early on Tuesday included the midfielder hold an adidas football too
Both carried the wording REUNITED and #pogback in gold letters, matching his hair colour
Both videos appeared on Manchester United's Twitter account in the early hours of Tuesday to coincide with the news Pogba had completed his world-record £89million transfer from Juventus, rejoining the club he left for next to nothing four years ago.
Both carried the wording REUNITED and #pogback in gold letters, matching the colour of his hair.
Shortly afterwards, United were retweeting a video by their kit suppliers in which the adidas poster boy dances to a tune from rapper Stormzy, including the lyrics: 'Look man, I'm the one they all fear, I was the man of the year last year… now I'm the man of the year for a second year straight… sitting at the top, like, 'Hold on is anybody there?'
Safe to say, this is not your average transfer deal. The days when signings would spend a couple of minutes holding a club scarf above their heads before a kickaround with team-mates may well be a thing of the past, but this was something else.
Pogba has appeared in another music video alongside grime artist Stormzy for adidas
The London rapper, real name Michael Omari, performed a mash-up of his song Nigo Duppy
WHAT A DIFFERENCE 37 YEARS MAKES!
It is more than 37 years since Trevor Francis caused a sensation by becoming English football's first £1million player, yet his unveiling was a far cry from the scenes that accompanied Paul Pogba's arrival at Old Trafford Tuesday.
On February 9, 1979, Francis moved from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest, but the deal was upstaged by Brian Clough, who turned up for the press conference wearing a red sports jacket and twirling a squash racket, telling Francis: 'Just give the ball to John Robertson - he's a better player than you.'
Cloughie's methods worked - Francis later scored the winning goal in the European Cup final - and goodness knows what Ol' Big 'Ead would have made of the furore surrounding Pogba!
At Trevor Francis' Nottingham Forest unveiling, Brian Clough arrived with a squash racket
Pogba will wear the No 6 shirt as he returns to the Premier League in the £100m move
The front page of Metro was even given over to a smouldering image of the new boy, just to prove this is a deal that has been completed for weeks.
Not even the arrival of the iconic Zlatan Ibrahimovic came close to this. Everything was carefully choreographed to ensure United broke the news with maximum impact around the world.
Confirmation of Pogba's arrival was delayed until after midnight - handily timed for news outlets in the United States and the Far East - the world's biggest transfer declared to the biggest global markets.
Morning brought another video posted by the club, charting his journey 'home'; a private jet touching down at Manchester Airport followed by a drive to the AON training centre at Carrington in a sports car provided by club sponsors Chevrolet. No commercial opportunity was wasted and adidas - who have a £750m deal with United and also sponsor Pogba - were at the centre of it all.
Pogba was filmed embracing members of staff he will remember well from his first spell at the club, which ended after seven first-team appearances.
Pogba arrives on a private jet to the Aon Training Complex ahead of his United move
He was driven to the club's training complex in a red Chevrolet with black stripes on it
Pogba poses for a video that would later be used to unveil the signing on social media
SISTERS IN ON THE ACT
The laundry staff at Manchester United got a surprise visit from the club’s £89m midfielder. The women are sisters (from left) Paula and Debbie Cross, with Gail Anderson. Between them they have decades of service, looking after the kit for first team, Under-21 and academy sides.
Pogba poses with members of United's laundrette staff ahead of his move back
The Frenchman left as a boy in 2012 but returned on Tuesday very much the man.
'Now I'm taller and bigger,' he said in his first interview with MUTV, which was given similar five-star treatment by United. 'I just came back to Carrington and it was like I came home. Like I just went for a holiday. I came back and see the same people. It's destiny. I was meant to come back. I've always had this United thing in my heart.
'It's a good challenge to come back where you grew up. I didn't finish what I started here. I came to finish it.'
If United felt awkward about paying more for Pogba than Real Madrid did for Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale, having allowed him to leave for next to nothing, they weren't showing it.
Indeed, there is pride that they have fought off competition from Madrid for one of the most highly prized young players in football, and done so by striking the biggest deal in the history of the game.
The midfielder sits down to take part in an interview for the club's official channel MUTV
Pogba poses in a Manchester United kit for the first time since returning to Old Trafford
The Spaniards remained in the running right the way through, but United were determined to close what has proved to be a hugely complicated deal. They have been monitoring Pogba's progress and noted how he 'tracked up' season upon season since turning down a £20,000-a-week deal to stay at United and joining Juventus four years ago.
Much of the problem then lay in the antipathy between Sir Alex Ferguson and Pogba's agent Mino Raiola. Heaven knows what the old United boss, who despises social media, made of Tuesday's circus.
The club's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward made it his business to forge a better relationship with Raiola after Ferguson retired in 2013. That has reaped its rewards this summer, and for that Woodward deserves great credit.
Pogba has signed a five-year contract to re-join the Red Devils from Juventus
Since negotiations opened two months ago, Woodward has been in hours of protracted negotiations with the fastidious Raiola and his lawyer Rafaela Pimenta over clauses relating to tax and image rights in his £290,000-a-week contract.
In contrast, there were only two face-to-face meetings with Juve and their president Andrea Agnelli as the clubs haggled over a fee. United manager Jose Mourinho was also a key factor in the deal, having identified Pogba as the player he wanted to fit one of four 'profiles' he needed in the team.
Mourinho will be delighted to get his man. United, too, see this as a game-changer in their power struggle with Madrid and Barcelona. Tuesday they were determined to make the most of it. Now Paul Labile Pogba has to live up to it all.
United boss Jose Mourinho must now decide where Pogba will fit into his system
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3732088/Paul-Pogba-21st-century-transfer-Manchester-United-reveals-100m-deal-social-media-blitz-times-overseas-markets.html#ixzz4GscD8BDM
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