Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, made a phone call to Paul Pogba in August in an attempt to personally lure the Juventus midfielder to Stamford Bridge this summer.
The report comes from French newspaper L’Equipe [via Sky Sports], who claim that Pogba and Mourinho discussed the possibility of a move to west London – which in turn did open negotiations over a transfer with the Serie A outfit, before they pulled the plug on any deal.
Following a woeful start to the season, Chelsea were widely expected to lodge a deadline day offer for the France international to significantly strengthen their side, with rumours of a £73m bid having regularly surfaced over the past few weeks.
However, it was said that Juve would only be open to considering a world record nine-figure sum for Pogba of £109m – making it little wonder that a deal collapsed.
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Having managed to steal Pedro Rodriguez from the grasp of Manchester United with the same phone call tactic, the Portuguese boss will no doubt be disappointed that he was not able to add a marquee signing to his senior side before the close of the window.