Premier League club Manchester City is reportedly giving up on its pursuit of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba after manager Manuel Pellegrini deemed the £71 million transfer fee "too expensive" for the Sky Blues, as reported by The Telegraph.
The 22-year-old French man and his agent Mino Raiola also demands a whopping £12 million a year remuneration for his services, which further turned off Pellegrini.
Pogba had long been considered by the English club as the potential heir to 32-year-old Ivorian midfielder Yaya Touré, but the price was not right and they are now allegedly ready to move on.
UEFA Champion's League winner Barcelona FC also recently proposed a £57-million transfer for Pogba but was immediately turned down by the Juve runner-ups. According to the Daily Mail Online, the Italian club presumed that The Citizens' "wealthy Arab owners" would be willing to pay their asking price but backed out at the last minute.
The demand was just too much for City even though their financial fair play restriction was already lifted by the UEFA earlier this month. The said to be £100 million-plus package just to acquire Pogba was ultimately disapproved by club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
However, reports came out that Al Mubarak may still reconsider if the transfer cost and Pogba's asking salary would go down, but the Etihad residents are said to be no longer urgently forcing anything as of this moment.
To provide a scale, Juve's £71 million asking price massively surpasses the £59.7 million British transfer record set by Manchester United when the Red Devils bought Angel di Maria from Real Madrid last year, as per the Daily Mail Online.