Laporte: Barca will bid for Pogba

Barcelona presidential hopeful Joan Laporta will try and sign Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba if he is elected.

The Catalonian outfit face competition from a host of European clubs for the highly sought after France international, but Laporta has made him his number one target this summer if he is voted in as Barcelona’s new president.

“There is a player we like very much – Paul Pogba,” he told BBC Sport. “We know the agent of the player – that is key in this operation. We will have to negotiate with the agent and Juve.”

It is believed that a bid in excess of £60m is needed to prize the 22-year-old away from Juventus, and for good reason. Of players to have completed more than 50 dribbles in Europe’s top 5 leagues, only one other player had a better success rate than the central midfielder (78.9%).

Added to that, no player in Serie A scored more goals from outside the box than Pogba last season (5) and only Franco Vázquez (7.74) achieved a higher WhoScored.com rating than Pogba (7.67).