The Return of THE PRODIGAL SON - PAUL POGBA - to Manchester United

photo courtesy of Paul Labile Pogba -Instagram

From the day Jose Mourinho was first announced as Manchester United's new manager, the rumors started to fluctuate.  There has been one ominous sign after another ever since.  Zlatan, Pogba and their families having dinner together in Los Angeles while on holiday.  The kit display at the ESPY's.  Pogba unfollowing Juventus on his social media accounts, and Juventus not featuring Pogba in any of their marketing material for the upcoming Serie A season.  The day that United's offical squad numbers were unveiled for the 2016-17 season, and #6 was left vacant.  Pogba's agent, Mino Raiola, spouting near verbatim the same language to the media regarding Pogba's possible transfer to United as he did just 1 month prior with another of his high profile clients, Ibrahimovic.  However, what may have been the most ominous sign may have been purely by accident, or purely on purpose.  After all Jose Mourinho is a football genius in every sense of the word, and I'm not one foolish enough to believe that he didn't know that Pogba's name would be seen clear as day written on the dry-erase board (in midfield nonetheless) inside the locker room at Old Trafford, when the photo wsa posted to Instagram and to Manchester United's other official social media accounts. From that day forward, it seemed one rumor after another made it's way across all forms of social media. United fans desperately wanted to believe every last one of them, but as we all know with "silly season", nothing is official unitl it's OFFICIAL!
Well thankfully on Sunday morning, the day of the Community Shield in which United was participating vs. Leicester City, the OFFICIAL news finally broke. The deal was DONE! Paul Labile Pogba was leaving Juventus and returning to Manchester United, for a world record transfer fee no less! But after months of speculation, rumors and he-said she-said, it was finally OFFICIAL! The prodigal son was coming home! Jose Mourinho made good on his promise to bring in 4 new players during the transfer window, and make good did he ever! Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were fantastic signings.  Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a world-class signing! But Paul Pogba was absolutely sensational! In Pogba, United were making up for their biggest blunder.  At 23 years of age, he is still years away from his prime, yet already world-class and quite simply one of the top XI footballers on the planet! United fans could not have asked for a better summer transfer window, and to top it all off, Jose Mourinho will be managing this outstanding group of talented players! Pinch me because I feel like I'm dreaming.....until I opened up my Twitter and Instagram and saw these pictures:

"I'm Back!"

FIREPOWER = POGBA/ZLATAN/WAZZA/MKHI/RASHFORD

HEY Real Madrid "How U Doin?" -POGBA/DeGea

To say that the past week at Manchester United has been crazy would be the understatement of the century! Even when word came down today that Pogba would be suspended for Sunday's match at Bournemouth due to yellow card accumulation from last years Coppa Italia (the Italian equivalent of the FA Cup) it did nothing to dampen the excitement and spirit surrounding the club. In fact, it actually might have just made it that much more exciting.  Instead of the tiny Vitality Stadium on Sunday, Paul Pogba will now make his re-debut for Manchester United at the Theatre of Dreams next Friday when Southampton come to Old Trafford for this season's first edition of Friday Night Football. The Premier League couldn't have dreamt it up any better when they changed this new scheduling format starting this season. Their 1st Friday night game will not only feature Paul Pogba's return to Old Trafford but Zlatan's first Premier League match there as well! Talk about a ratings bonanza! The Premier League can thank Ed Woodward, Jose Mourinho and Manchester United as a whole for making this unbelievable night possible! They call it the Theatre of Dreams for a reason, and I guarantee you there isn't a single Manchester United fan in the entire world who would miss this match for ANYTHING!!! As for the rest of the Premier League and your fans, I hope you enjoyed kicking us while we were down, because guess whose GOT THEIR SWAGGER BACK! Or to put it another way, more simply for some of you Scousers and what not! "DADDY'S HOME AND WE ARE COMING FOR #21" BELIEVE THAT! #FactsOnly #MUFC

JOSE MOURINHO - "THE RIGHT ONE"

Jose Mourinho introduced as Manager of Manchester United

The rumors started as far back as November, 2015.  It seemed as though every week Louis Van Gaal was managing for his job with each match upcoming on United's schedule.  In December, it seemed all but assured that he wouldn't survive past Christmas, though defiantly he pressed forward assuring the media and fans alike that not only would he see out the season, but the duration of his 3-year contract that he signed with the club's board of directors.  Much to the chagrin of many fans, yours truly included, it seemd like every time the axe was about to fall, he magically escaped impending doom.  And right at the very end, when it seem assured that he was managing his final games in the Old Trafford dugout,  Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard came to his rescue and secured Manchester United's first trophy since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.  With that FA Cup victory, there were many who felt that LVG just may have been able to see out 1 final year as manager.  Thankfully, the United board of directors had already made up their mind quite a while before that amazing day at Wembley in May.  As great as it was to see Manchester United finally hoist a trophy again, Paul Scholes as he so often does put it so eloquent when he said "contending for 4th place and winning the FA Cup, that's what Arsenal do!" And he was 100% right!

When the news finally broke that Louis Van Gaal had been sacked, attention immediately turned to who his replacement would be.  Many were assured that it would be the man who should have replaced Sir Alex 3 years ago, the man who should have been given the job in December, and indeed that man, JOSE MOURINHO, was appointed manager of Manchester United not long after.  It was a brazen move, welcomed by many but still questioned by some.  Would Jose be able to adapt to the Manchester United tradition and legacy?  Could he truly conform to being a United man? Personally that is what excites me so much about his appointment as manager.  I feel he, though he won't admit this, is out to prove that this is not about him, that this is about the opportunity to manage the biggest football club on the planet, and a job that he was put on this earth to do!  He wasted no time in getting right down to business.  Almost immediately United were linked with just about every superstar and high profile player from England, Spain, France, Germany and everywhere in between!  The anticipation for the 2016-17 season was like nothing we had seen in recent years and even the current players on the squad could not wait to return to Carrington and get the chance to work with him.  After all, if Jose Mourinho has proven one thing in his career, ALL HE DOES IS WIN! No matter where he has been, he was won! He has managed some of the biggest clubs in the world and has won at every single one of them.  There was not another manager alive that was more suited for this job and I personally think that deep down, Sir Alex Ferguson would even agree with that as well.

His first signing of the summer was CB Eric Bailly, an Ivory Coast international from Villareal. A young, raw talent yes, but a positive step in the right direction.  It was then that the big names started circulating.  And when I say big names, I mean the creme de la creme! Zlatan Ibrahimovic had already announced that he would be leaving PSG at the end of the 2015-16 season and would be moving on to a new club.  Joining up with his former boss at Inter, his mentor, a man he said he would run full steam through a brick wall for, Jose Mourinho, made Manchester United seem like the perfect destination.  After Zlatan had a month or so of competing at EURO 2016 with his native Sweden, and frankly a month of being Zlatan, he announced himself on Instagram, ahead of the club I might add, that his next club would be Manchester United.  He did it simply by posting a picture of the United badge and that was it!  Now Jose really had world football's attention.  Not a week later,  he was able to pry Borussia Dortmund's best player last season, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, to come and join the Mourinho Revolution in Manchester.  Jose said from the outset that he had a goal of signing 4 new players this off-season, and with 3 already in the fold, many were left to guess just who that last signing might be....

It became no secret of his affinity for a former United youngster who had left the club in 2012 on a free transfer to Juventus where he became a superstar and one of the best midfielders in the world.  Yes, if Manchester United were going to lure Paul Labile Pogba back to Manchester, not only were they going to have to pay a very hefty price, but they were also going to have to convince him to leave the 4-time defending Serie A Champions, and the promise of 1 season of Champions League football.  The one advantage they had though was that to this day, Paul Pogba still considers Manchester United his First Football Family, no matter how his departure went and his initial time with the club ended.  Now, as I have been saying both on my Twitter and Facebook pages for the past 2 weeks, I'm not going to start counting chickens during silly season because that only leads to heartbreak.  But it has become no secret that Paul Labile Pogba is the 4th and final piece to Jose Mourinho's puzzle.  No matter where you look on social media there are rumors of meetings in Italy, agents in Miami, meetings in Manchester, sightings here and there.  Nothing is offical until the Manchester United Twitter account says it's official so I am not going to start doing backflips until then.  However, if Jose Mourinho is able to pull off this signing, it will be the biggest transfer in the HISTORY of world football!  United will absolutely smash the previous record set by that arrogant Welshman who now plays for the Whites in Madrid.  There have been whispers that nothing is done yet, talks are on-going, and United have backup plans should things fall through.  The thing is, Jose Mourinho has given me no reason to doubt him thus far, and I have all the faith in him that he and the Manchester United board will deliver the one who got away!  I truly believe Paul Pogba is coming home to United!!! The Jose Mourinho Revolution has begun at Manchester United, and thank God for NBC Sports Network, every single match WILL BE TELEVISED!  GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED!!!