Barcelona director Ariedo Braida has revealed that the Catalan club were unwilling to meet Juventus’ price tag for Paul Pogba.
The 23-year-old, who is said to be on the brink of rejoining Manchester United this summer, was part of the French side that took part in Euro 2016 and scored ten times for the Old Lady last season in 49 appearances, assisting 16 times.
The Frenchman joined Juventus on a free transfer in 2012 after his contract at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson had expired. Since joining the Turin based club, Pogba has become one of the best players in the world.
Braida has revealed that Barcelona were priced out of making a bid for Pogba, much like Real Madrid, who also appear to have quit the race to sign the Frenchman due to financial reasons.
He was quoted as saying by Canale 21: "Clearly when you talk about figures that go over €100m, you need to reflect on them.
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"It all comes down to the TV rights that brought in a lot of money and completely changed the logic of the transfer market.
"Clearly all players are overrated to some degree or another at this stage.
"We know Pogba, he is a player who proved to be very strong and, for a while, Barcelona were interested, but clearly the dynamics changed and once the figures reached a certain point, we were no longer interested.
"It's hard to keep up at some stage, because you don't only have to consider the price of the transfer fee, but also the player's salary.
"Over the course of five years, that can amount to tens of millions."
Pogba, who is looking to be closing rapidly on a switch to Old Trafford, has the same agent as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Mino Riaola – and the duo have already joined Jose Mourinho at his new club.
