Report: Manchester United expect Pogba to leave as free agent

Manchester United are resigned to losing Paul Pogba for nothing next summer.

The club has accepted that the French midfielder won't sign a new contract prior to the expiration of his current deal, sources told Mark Ogden of ESPN. Pogba, who's thus far turned down United's efforts to strike a new agreement, is slated to become a free agent at the end of June 2022.

He cost a then-record transfer fee of £89.1 million when he returned to the club in 2016, having previously left Manchester for Juventus in 2012.

Despite that outlay, the Manchester United hierarchy is apparently unmoved by the prospect of the 28-year-old departing on a free transfer and doesn't plan to make him available in the January window, when the club could potentially recoup some of that hefty transfer fee. United's owners, the Glazer family, believe having Pogba available for the second half of the season is more beneficial to the team than a possible cash injection, Ogden adds.

Juventus, Real Madrid, and Paris Saint-Germain have been linked with a move for the World Cup winner in the past. Whether anyone would be willing to make a move in January remains to be seen, though it seems unlikely considering Pogba would be available for free six months later.

As for Manchester United, plans are already being made to bolster the club's midfield without Pogba, according to Ogden.

The Frenchman, who'll miss the Red Devils' next three league matches after his red card in the 5-0 loss to Liverpool, has been relegated to the bench for the team's last two games. That's sparked talk of a rift with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but Pogba moved to quell that story Wednesday, brandishing those suggestions as "big lies to make headlines."