A Manchester United official privately took a brutal swipe at Paul Pogba while watching Jude Bellingham star for England at the World Cup.
Pogba, now 30 and back at Juventus, spent six rollercoaster seasons at Old Trafford but ultimately failed to live up to his £89million price tag and the lofty expectations that naturally came with it. United are now considering a mega-money transfer swoop for Bellingham, who club chiefs hope would fare better than Pogba in a red shirt.
With the news that arch rivals Liverpool have just pulled out of the hotly-contested race to sign the 19-year-old midfielder, Red Devils supporters are dreaming of watching him play under Erik ten Hag next season, especially after seeing him shine on the world's biggest stage. In Qatar, Bellingham was a mainstay for England and proved why it's set to cost at least £100m to prise him away from current employers Borussia Dortmund thanks to a string of all-action performances.
His displays throughout the tournament also saw a United official, who the Manchester Evening News report has met Bellingham, note: "That's what we wanted Pogba to do."
The meeting with Bellingham may well've occurred when the Red Devils "rolled out the carpet" for him in spring 2020, while he was still making his name at boyhood club Birmingham City and weighing up his first major transfer move. Taken on a tour of United's Carrington training base with his family, Bellingham met legendary figures such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Eric Cantona and Bryan Robson.
After the meeting, Robson believed that the teenager's mind was made up. "Unfortunately for us he decided to move to Germany. We thought we more or less had him," the Red Devils icon, who Bellingham has been likened to because of his style of play, told The Sun last year.
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"Myself, Sir Alex and Eric Cantona all met him with his mum and dad at Carrington and after that meeting we thought he was coming to us. Now there is talk about him moving next summer and you see Liverpool mentioned a lot. We thought we had him and he would have been a great signing for us. But he definitely has it in him to become a great player for England."
Current manager Ten Hag could now reignite United's pursuit of the Dortmund ace, who Manchester City and Real Madrid are also understood to be in the fight for. The MEN's report adds that the Red Devils boss rates Bellingham so highly that he recently told confidants if he could sign any player in world football, it'd be him.
