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£100 million for Paul Pogba is no great risk for Manchester United

£800 billion is a lot of money, depending on the context. For a pair of trainers, it would be too much. For a house, even an enormous London skyscraper, entirely for one household’s use, it would be overpriced at that figure. For a full-scale economic bailout of a failing financial sector in an increasingly unproductive capitalist system, however, it might be seen as a bargain. There is already a large number of complaints about the cost of Paul Pogba’s fee to take him from Manchester United to Juventus, but that misses the point. £100 million, give or take twenty million, is clearly an enormous sum of money if we go by the pair-of-trainers test, and probably in the case of most houses, too. But for a 23-year-old midfielder, as rich as the top clubs are, it seems almost tediously pedestrian.

The most recent deals, for overseas and home television rights for the Premier League, are around £8 billion pounds. There are also very few profitable clubs around, even in England and at the top of world football, but Manchester United is one of them, as are Juventus. Obviously, Juventus do not match the worldwide pull or financial might of United, but nevertheless, it is a lot easier to buy on the cheap if the seller is motivated. Juventus, having bought Gonzalo Higuain for a similar fee to what they will receive from Pogba, and with further business to do, are hardly motivated sellers. They may operate on the basis of picking up bargains from elsewhere and understanding that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and perhaps United are more tempting destinations for their players, but that is part of the plan to turn a profit, not a case of rampant exploitation.

This means that £100 million is no great deal. United’s 2015 revenue was half a billion pounds. With ticket sales, endless sponsorships and all kind of dignity-free commercial exercises, they can easily spend £100 million on a player should they require him. And they really, really, really require Paul Pogba. Much was made of the quarter of a billion pounds spent in order to support Louis van Gaal’s genius, but a cursory look at the current squad suggests that Jose Mourinho will require something similar to get United back to where they are accustomed.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is potentially a duff, aged recruit, but also a player capable of briefly inspiring those around him. Commercially, his name makes the move only a small gamble, and Wayne Rooney’s presence means than on the pitch, he is at least an upgrade on one striker. Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan may succeed, too, and neither look like foolish purchases - though success is not guaranteed. In the past, Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian, Marcos Rojo, and Memphis have all seemed potentially sensible signings, and all have been toilet.

Pogba appears to be slightly different. We know he can hold his own in Juventus’s midfield. We know that Real Madrid were interested in him as the next Galactico, and that Barcelona would not be averse to him joining either. He has the pace and strength to take the ball from deep in his own half to the opposition’s penalty area. Just as importantly, he has the technique to send the ball from his own half to find a teammate in a more dangerous position. He is a threat from distance in a way that no United player has been since Rooney retired in 2012. A strong, intelligent goalscoring midfielder is essential for almost any team. In a side as limited United still is, and against a backdrop of a side organised by Mourinho, a spark in the middle of the pitch is a prerequisite to success. As he will only improve from here, and can either play for the best part of another decade or at the very least maintain his resale value, £100 million scarcely seems worth mentioning.

There are risks to be overcome, though. Against the very best sides for Juventus, he has been overshadowed, unable to take control of a game. That is probably because he remains young, and if his colleagues don’t match the talent of Barcelona or Bayern, he will not get the assistance to flourish. Ideally, as he matures, he will need the help of other less, in order to dominate any given match, as Lionel Messi does, and Cristiano Ronaldo used to. The worry is that while at Juventus, he had Andrea Pirlo, Carlos Tevez, Leonardo Bonucci and other excellent players around him, United were a shower last season, and have not yet proven that they will improve this season. Pogba needs to be part of a team, still.

That was highlighted at Euro 2016. For much of the tournament, France were rescued by Antoine Griezmann or Dimitri Payet. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t special. In part, that was because Pogba was used too deep, as a holding midfielder alongside Blaise Matuidi, but he was hardly an aggressive midfielder in that position. His defensive work was adequate, not impressive. It seems as if Schneiderlin, Ander Herrera, the concrete Michael Carrick and the abysmal Marouane Fellaini will be his assistants in central midfield. Potentially Bastian Schweinsteiger will hang on for another season, but one thing is clear: none of them can point to their last season (perhaps longer for most of them) and make the case they will do anything but drag Pogba down with them. Behind him, the useless Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and others mean that unless David de Gea is even more brilliant than usual, Pogba might be the focus of United chasing the game against mid-table opposition.

So, spending £100 million on Pogba for United is no given, but neither is it a great risk. He can’t be worse than their current options, and there is no alternative elsewhere that could make a convincing case to be preferred. He is not the only transfer, and the likelihood is that he isn’t the last one this summer, either. Mourinho has a history of elevating midfielders like Pogba to succeed. He has a history, just as importantly, of elevating teams to succeed. United need that, and to do that they need Pogba, too. What is necessary for everyone concerned is that they stop looking at each other to pull the team through the difficult times, and to start proving that they can do it themselves. Pogba’s talent and performances suggest he is the likeliest of all to do that.