With over $1,512,443,775.00 spent over the past several months in the soccer transfer window, teams and fans are excited about their new players. The highest paid player, Paul Pogba, was bought for $115,700,000. He shattered the previous record by 5 million dollars. The club that bought Pogba is called Manchester United. Even though they are one of the most prestigious soccer clubs, they finished the past Barclays Premier League season in 5th place. This year, with Jose Mourinho as their new manager, the team has hopes of winning the league. Mourinho spent the most money of all clubs when bringing in Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and several other talented players. With these new players, Manchester United’s game has improved greatly, however, they are currently in 6th place.

Chris Lee ’17 stated, “Pogba and Ibrahimovic should have a profound effect upon Manchester United; they are two of the strongest players at their respective positions and should be dominant for United on the field.” In recent years, Manchester United has not spent too much money in the transfer window, so this year their fans were extra enthusiastic about all the money their club spent. Evan Arai ’20 explained, “I hate Manchester United, but Zlatan is worth it, and Pogba is not. So far, that’s been true.”

Manchester United’s biggest rival is Manchester City. Manchester City also is starting with a new manager named Pep Guardiola. Every time the two teams play against each other, it is called a Manchester Derby. These games are always packed with hundreds of thousands of people watching and it is one of the most intense rivalries in the sport. The first time that they played against each other this season, United lost 2-1. Currently, Manchester City has had an undefeated first six games. The season still has a long time before it ends, so anyone can still win. Scott Clothier, Upper School teacher, added, “I do believe that these two additions will inject new vitality to the side after a season that was truly lackluster. Both of these players are dynamic, unpredictable, and deadly around the net. These are areas where Man U have been struggling over the past two seasons. I predict that the Red Devils finish in the top four this season.” Many people’s thoughts vary over the next season.

So far, Ibrahimovic has scored five goals and Pogba has only scored one. With those stats, you might not think that Pogba is worth it, but he still is very strong and talented in the midfield. On an online post, 60% of people said that Pogba is not worth the money, and another poll said that he should be worth 40-60 million dollars. Although Pogba has not proven himself to be the best yet, he’s already proven himself to be a threat and he is only 23 years-old; he has his entire career ahead of him. Pogba also was named in the 2015-2016 Team of the Year starting eleven, which is an incredible accomplishment at 22 years-old, much less achieving that at any age.

So is Pogba going to make an impact on Manchester United and is he really worth all the money? Although most people say he is not, new manager Jose Mourinho seems to think he is. Mourinho has managed nine of the world’s biggest teams, so when he sets his eyes on new players, they must be good. Only time will tell what kind of an impact Pogba makes.