Mourinho will Axe eight players to sign Pogba to Manchester United

Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho will be removing eight players in the team to make way for the signing of Juventus FC’s Paul Pogba.

The Sun reports that Mourinho wants to work with 22 core men as the team makes room for Pogba’s 100 million pounds (AU$171 million) target salary in United.

The signing of Pogba is part of Mourinho’s red revolution at Old Trafford. So who will be the players to be axed?

Marcos Rojo, Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger are said to be the players that are most at risk to be removed due to their poor seasons. The futures of Adnan Januzaj, who was loaned last season, Memphis Depay, Daley Blind and Juan Mata are also in doubt. But Mata may be used as a bargaining chip with Juventus for the trade to acquire Pogba.

Mino Raiola, Pogba’s agent, has already dealt with United this summer for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

BBC reports that a deal between United and Juventus is not yet imminent as United has not yet had any discussions with Juventus about the trade.

Pogba, 23, is also on duty with France for the Euro 2016 and didn’t want any distractions during his preparations against Portugal for the finals. Juventus doesn’t want to comment on the speculation around its player, whose contract with the team runs to 2019.

The team, though, has not yet given up any hopes of persuading Pogba to sign an extension and stay with Juventus. Pogba has won four Serie A titles with the Turin club.

United will have competition in the services of France’s midfielder as Mourinho’s old team, Real Madrid is the preferred destination of Pogba.

Pogba played for United for three years, but only made seven appearances before transferring to Italy in 2012. The relationship of United’s manager at that time, Sir Alex Ferguson, had broken down with Pogba’s agent, Raiola.