Unless Donald Trump becomes president, I suspect I’ll remember 2016 as the year of the reunions. Guns N Roses was the first band I feel in love with as a young teenager, and after a 23 year hiatus Axl Rose and Slash, got back together for the aptly titled “Not in this lifetime” tour. In what could also be described as an almost just as improbable reunion, Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United after four seasons at Juventus.




The writing was on the wall for the past few weeks, especially after Juventus completed the stunning signing of Gonzalo Higuain, but for some Manchester United’s announcement on Sunday was still shocking especially when you consider that just the day before Allegri had stated he expected Pogba to report to Juventus’ training facility at Vinovo on Monday (as I always say, public statements on transfers are about as relevant as any band Steven Adler has been in since he was kicked out of Guns N Roses).
Let’s take a look at where this transfer leaves everyone involved, starting with Paul Pogba himself. While many have criticized him for leaving a team with a legitimate chance at winning the Champions League, he also got an opportunity to more than double his wages without having to go to China. While Manchester United many not be in the Champions League at moment, they’re still one of the most iconic clubs in any sport in the world. 

I never begrudge anyone for leaving a job to earn more, especially athletes who have such short careers that can be derailed in the blink of an eye because of an injury. Pogba had previously turned down the opportunity to double his wages at Chelsea last summer, but instead stayed at Juve one more season and in process he helped with the transition after Tevez, Pirlo and Vidal left. 

 

While some Juventini may have more easily stomached his departure had he joined Real Madrid or Barcelona because they’re in the CL (at least that’s what they say), Pogba is still leaving for a huge club he has ties to- all of us would at least consider the opportunity to earn a lot more. It’s a bit like how I would love to see Izzy Stradlin be part of this new version of Guns N Roses- but even without him, I have no issue with the band calling this a reunion tour and charging the prices that come with that.
 

While Juventus clearly lost a key player who will likely get better as he enters his prime, they have prepared themselves very well for this possibility and are still a serious contender for the Champions League, at least in my opinion. Had the bianconeri acquired Pjanic after Manchester United’s announcement, there would be so much more buzz on how well Juventus replaced Pogba.But Pjanic was just the first of numerous impressive acquisition made by Marotta and Paratici this summer- they’re clearly going all in to win the Champions League before Buffon retires. Juventus added depth to arguably best defense in Europe by bringing back Benatia to Serie A, they also signed Dani Alves who has a strong CL pedigree to improve on the wings, and acquired one of the best prospects in Europe with Marko Pjaca who will help replace both Morata and Cuadrado.  

Of course Juventus big signing was Gonzalo Higuain, who is coming off a season in which he broke a 66 year old scoring record in Serie A with 36 goals- just one less than the 2nd and 3rd place highest scorers last season combined. While Juventus certainly didn’t get good value by spending 90 million on a 28 year old player, it’s important to remember that it would have been nearly impossible to convince a comparable striker to come to Serie A especially with an annual salary of 7.5 million euro.


 

Juventus is now looking for a midfielder to help offset the injury concerns for Khedira and Marchisio (who isn’t expected back until at least October)- they’re targets including Matic, Luiz Gustavo, Matuidi and Witsel- assuming they land one of them they will have a loaded team led by Paulo Dybala who will be one year better after his first sensational season in Turin.

While many point to the fact Manchester United spent a fortune to bring back a player they previously owned, what is money to them? Had Pogba never left Old Trafford four years ago, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to develop tactically in Italy playing for two highly rated coaches like Conte and Allegri.

Pogba played alongside midfielders like Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio and Khedira at Juventus- in a way it’s like Manchester United sent him to the most expensive midfielder university for the last four years and are now getting back a finished product. While many think Manchester United overpaid, Chelsea had offered around 90 million euro just last summer and at the end of the day a player is worth what another club is willing to pay.  

Pogba has all the tools to become best midfielder in the world, he is just 23 and as we saw in the past few weeks, he’s incredibly marketable- it’s not like signing Pogba has prevented Manchester United from making other moves which should be the main criteria when deciding if a team overpaid or not.  

Of course the pressure will be humongous for Pogba to deliver, but we have also seen how Ibrahimovic has made midfielders much less talented than Pogba have their best seasons (Nocerino and Matuidi come to mind) so everything is in place for this reunion to be as successful as Guns N Roses’ recent US tour for all involved. 
 

See you next Tuesday for another round of transfer talk  



David Amoyal is the manager of the English page on Gianluca Di Marzio's website where he also writes weekly articles. David covers transfer news for ESPN, and has appeared on numerous radio shows on Sirius XM in the US as well as TalkSport in the UK. David is the former editor in chief of Vavel USA and his articles have been featured in many sites around the world. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidAmoyal