FIFA Opens Investigation Into Paul Pogba's Transfer To Manchester United

According to reports, FIFA has decided to investigate last summer’s record-breaking transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United. It’s not clear which aspect of the deal piqued FIFA’s suspicions, but presumably it has something to do with recent reports about the transfer and Pogba’s contractual terms.

Reporters for respected German newspaper Der Spiegel, in combination with whistleblower group Football Leaks, are set to release a book this week entitled Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football. The authors released snippets of the book’s findings yesterday, some of which purport to shed light on the terms of Pogba’s transfer fee, contact details, and his agent’s fee. From the :

Pogba earns a basic wage of £8.61m, equating to £165,588 a week, and will receive an annual loyalty bonus in excess of £3.4m from next year.

Astonishing details of the contracts agreed between United and [Pogba’s agent Mino] Raiola for Ibrahimovic are revealed in a book to be published in Germany this week — to which Sportsmail has been given exclusive access.

It has also emerged that Raiola will be paid over £41million after bringing Pogba to United from Juventus for a world record £89m transfer fee.

Again, FIFA has yet to release a statement of its own explaining what specific part of the deal is under investigation. Oftentimes tax considerations are at the heart of cases like this, though usually those kind of inquiries—like, for instance, in the Neymar case, where Barcelona hid much of both the transfer fee and Neymar’s salary in covert contracts between various parties in an effort to get the payments charged at a lesser tax rate—are handled by a country’s own tax office.

[ AFP]