This one more player in Madrid will be disturbing news for Barca

Real Madrid have spent more than twice as much as any European club already this summer. Yet Zinedine Zidane is still without his reported top target. He will not rest until Paul Pogba rocks up at the Bernabeu.

It will certainly cost them. A Daily Mirror exclusive claims that ‘a bid of around £135m’ is being planned for the midfielder, but even that might not be enough. Manchester United will ‘dig their heels in’ and wait for at least £150m to be faxed through.

Pogba is ‘disillusioned’ with life at Old Trafford, but United are ‘reluctant’ to lose him. Not even the temptation to make a profit on a third player since 2009 appeals to them. Weirdos.

They do hold all the cards. Pogba is under contract until 2021, and United, of course, have the option of adding another year to that. Having signed him for £89.3m, they won’t be settling for anything less than their biggest sale ever, trumping the £80m Real themselves spent on Cristiano Ronaldo ten years ago.