Paul Pogba's agent, Mino Raiola, recently revealed that new Manchester United head coach Jose Mourinho had targeted the French midfielder last season when the manager was still in charge at Chelsea.
Pogba was Mourinho's fourth big-name signing this summer when he took over as the Red Devils' new boss. The club acquired him from Italian Serie A squad Juventus for a world transfer record fee of £89.3 million in August after signing Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan respectively.
The Frenchman, who began his career as a youth player in United, is said to be happy to return to his boyhood club and his signing is considered as one of the best in club history as he is seen as a major player for United moving forward.
However, his agent, Raiola, had recently divulged that United was really not Pogba's first choice team to transfer with from Juventus. The agent said that it was Chelsea that would have snagged the 23-year-old last season if not for an agreement between their party and the Italian champions, SkySports reported.
"Paul could have left (Juventus) last year because Mourinho - then at Chelsea - really wanted him," said Raiola, as per ESPN. "But Juventus and I had agreement: win the league title and the Champions League, then he can go."
Pogba then helped the Old Lady win a record-matching fifth straight Serie A championship last term but was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League by Bayern Munich. Still, he was allowed to exit Turin.
Raiola then proceeded to say that Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis should give Pogba a "present" because without Juve selling him, the Italian champs would not have had the money to buy the Italian top flight's top goalscorer Gonzalo Higuaín from Partenopei.
"De Laurentiis should be giving Paul a present, because without his departure Juventus would never have bought Higuaín, and he would never have been able to bank all that money," the agent said.
Pogba is currently enduring a rough start in his second stint with the Red Devils as he had only scored once in seven games for the English club. Mourinho is said to be still in the process of searching "for a role that best suits his abilities".