Paul Pogba has been warned he will have fewer options because of the financial impact of the coronavirus if he tries to quit Manchester United.
Pogba attempted to leave United last summer and is wanted by Real Madrid and Juventus.
Juventus’ chief football officer Fabio Paratici claims fewer clubs can afford Pogba’s wage demands because the shutdown is costing them millions.
Pogba, 27, earns £290,000-a-week and Paratici says the landscape has changed.
“Pogba is a great player, we know him as a champion,” Paratici told Sky Italia.
“But something will change after the virus crisis because logically the salary demands someone of his level would have had before is now more difficult to get hold of, or at least he’ll have fewer clubs prepared to pay that money.”
Paratici’s comments may be a ploy to persuade Pogba to lower his contract demands to secure a return to Juventus and he quit the Serie A giants in 2016 to rejoin United in a then world record £89million deal.
Pogba claims he is still motivated to succeed, despite managing only eight appearances through injury before the shutdown.
“We have got to stay motivated, there’s no other choice,” he said. “We don’t know how long it will be like this, but I still have goals in my head and one day hopefully this will stop.
“And then we have to get back on the pitch, so we have to be ready. For myself, I have been out for a long time as well, so for me I just want to get back playing football.”
Meanwhile, Marcos Rojo appears to have broken the lockdown rules in his native Argentina after the defender, who is on loan at Estudiantes, was filmed smoking and playing cards with a group of friends.
