Paul Pogba has admitted that he was open to joining Manchester City in the summer 2022 when his contract with Manchester United expired, had his personal circumstances been different.
Pogba's final three years at Old Trafford were blighted by injuries and he wound up leaving as a free agent after ultimately failing to live up to his label as the club's most expensive signing.
The Frenchman has revealed this week that he wanted to leave United sooner than 2022, claiming executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward blocked his request to move on in 2019, even after manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had given it his blessing.
Three years later, Pogba ended up back at Juventus on a free transfer for the second time in his career. But, as a free agent, nothing was theoretically off the table for him even Manchester City.
When asked by Gazzetta dello Sport if he had turned down Pep Guardiola in order to return to Juventus, Pogba's answer was "yes".
The player elaborated on the reasons for his decision in a separate interview with the Daily Mail, teasing that a move across Manchester wasn't automatically a "closed door" for him.
"Honestly: I had a lot of problems," the 31-year-old explained.
"I had the burglary, I had problem with the extortion. I had to leave Manchester. Let's say it like this: if I didn't have [those problems] maybe I would have been at City.
"But with an 'if' you can save the world because my head wasn't about staying in Manchester. But it wasn't a closed door because I left United for free."
Less than four months before his contract was due to expire, Pogba's family home was targeted by burglars while he was playing in a Europa League game against Atletico Madrid. His wife was also in attendance at Old Trafford, but the couple's two children were home with a nanny during the break-in. Pogba's 2018 World Cup medal was stolen, among several high value items, but he said that his family's sense of safety and security in their own home was a far greater loss.
Around the same time, Pogba was the victim of alleged extortion by one of his older brothers, Mathias, and some childhood friends, demanding payment of 13m through intimidation after claiming he didn't support them once he became an international footballer.
Last month, Mathias Pogba and the five others accused of "attempted extortion and criminal conspiracy" were ordered by a judge to stand trial in court in Paris.
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