#360transfers: Desailly urges Juve's Pogba to think carefully

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  • Wanted man: Pogba.

    France great Marcel Desailly has warned countryman Paul Pogba to think wisely about how he would fit into a new team before contemplating a big-money switch from Juventus.

    Pogba, 22, has emerged as one of the world’s finest midfielders since joining the ‘Old Lady’ after his Manchester United contract expired in 2012.

    His superb form for the beaten Champions League-finalists has not gone unnoticed with free-spending Premier League side Manchester City linked with an €80million (Dh332m) bid yesterday while Spanish treble winners Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are also interested.

    World Cup 1998 champion Desailly – who also tasted Euro 2000 success during 116 appearances for Les Bleus – has experience from his own stellar career of making a high-profile switch, winning Europe’s premier club competition in consecutive years after joining AC Milan from Marseille in 1993.

    Desailly, who was 24 when he moved to the San Siro, has urged Pogba to consider how he would be utilised to ensure his development is not curbed.

    He said: “France head coach Didier Deschamps is my friend and he told me he is an amazing player. He is now a first choice for Juventus. We need to see that if he moves, will he be in competition with another player?

    “Will he accept this or handle it if they play a different tactical set-up? If he moves, he could become the second defensive midfielder and very defensively committed. We are very anxious to see what develops with him.”

    Converted centre-back Desailly went on to play for Chelsea before hanging up his boots in 2006 after spells in Qatar with Al Gharafa and Qatar SC. But he is best remembered for his five-year association with the Rossoneri which brought seven major trophies.

    Milan have fallen on fallow times recently, though a proposed Thai-financed takeover is set to herald a fresh start.

    Desailly said: “I hope to see Milan soon in the Champions League again, they will become very strong once Silvio Berlusconi sells this club and we see a new chairman.”

    Desailly was speaking at the opening of the UEFA Champions League experience at Yas Mall, the first-ever UEFA Champions League-themed retail and casual dining concept in the region

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