You can’t win Champions League with Real Madrid or Barcelona now – Rio warns Pogba

Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has taken to his YouTube channel to warn United midfielder Paul Pogba against the temptation to move to Spain.

Ferdinand advised the Frenchman not be lured into a move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona if his desire is town lift the UEFA Champions League. Pogba, who was on fire for United at Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team started the season on a flying note against rivals Leeds United, is yet to commit his future to the club, with his contract set to end this summer.

“It could be his last season if he doesn’t re-sign and it looks like it is going that way a little bit.

“But if he smells success, and a winning period, there is something telling me that he will want to be a part of it.

“That is all he has come for. When I speak to Paul, all he talks about is wanting to win. [He says] ‘I want to win the Champions League. The Premier League is what I want to win’.

“He has got a burning desire to do that for Manchester United. He grew up here as a kid. He wants to win, he wants to be known as one of the guys that was part of a winning team, a winning era.

“He won’t rest easy. If he walks out at Manchester United, I know for a fact Paul Pogba will look back and go; ‘I didn’t win the Champions League. I didn’t win the Premier League. That is not what I came back for’.

“There will be unfinished business and, by the way, going to Real Madrid or Barcelona right now is not taking a forward step. You are not winning the Champions League right now by going there.

“Paris Saint-Germain is the only place you could justify going to win the Champions League outside of England. The pool of clubs he could have gone to two years ago has shrunk.”

It has always been the Frenchman’s ‘dream’ to play for Real Madrid but honestly, the Red Devils look like a stronger – and more organised – team now.