Manchester United legend Gary Neville has called on Paul Pogba to issue a statement denying Mino Raiola's claim of his imminent departure from the club. Ahead of the Red Devils' crucial Champions League encounter with RB Leipzig, the French midfielder's agent has stated that his time at the club is virtually over.
In an interview with Tuttosport on Monday, Raiola announced that the former Juventus star was unhappy at Old Trafford and, as a result, it will only be right for United to part ways with him in the upcoming winter transfer window. He said: "Paul is unhappy. He is no longer able to express himself as he would like and as expected of him.
"He has to change teams; he has to change the air.
"He has a contract that will expire in a year and a half and I think that the best solution for both Pogba and Man United is that he goes in the next transfer window.
"If not, the Old Trafford club know that they risk losing him on a free transfer."
Back in November, reports from England indicated that Manchester United were preparing another contract extension for Pogba, having already activated the one-year option in the current agreement to extend his stay to 2022. Nevertheless, the club now faces a new challenge of tying the midfielder down to a long-term deal with Raiola now claiming that he is not interested in staying.
Owning to this, Manchester United legend Gary Neville took to Twitter to spell out his grievances. The former English right-back has asked Pogba address the claims made by his agent as it does not help the morale in camp ahead of Tuesday's crunchy encounter with RB Leipzig and this weekend's Manchester derby.
Raiola - It's happened many times before . However surely Paul knew he was making this announcement? If he wasn't aware then we should see a quote from him very soon correcting his agent. Finally to do this ahead of Leipzig and the Man Derby is terrible timing for the Team.
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 7, 2020
On Tuesday, Pogba is expected to gear up and help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side to victory in Leipzig as any result but a win or draw could dash the club's hopes of progressing to the knockout stage of the Champions League. Over the weekend, the Frenchman scored his first goal of the season in the 3-1 win over West Ham after making his fifth start in eight appearances in the current campaign.
