Paul Pogba has been linked with a move away from Manchester United after snubbing a new contract and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may have already identified his replacement in the form of Hannibal Mejbri
Manchester United will look to potentially replace Paul Pogba with wonderkid Hannibal Majbri with the Frenchman having entered the final 12 months of his contract.
The 28-year-old was tipped with a summer move away from Old Trafford having snubbed a £350k-a-week deal that would have seen him become the Premier League’s highest-paid player in history.
A world-record transfer fee was paid to bring Pogba back to the Theatre of Dreams in 2016 but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is set to lose his star man for nothing next summer unless the Frenchman can be swayed to pen a new deal.
Pogba could even start holding talks with potential suitors in January on a pre-contract agreement.
If that were the case then Man Utd could look to replace him with Hannibal Majbri in the starting line-up.
The 18-year-old made his debut for the club in the final game of last season and is tipped for a bright future at Old Trafford.
The Athletic report Hannibal, who usually prefers to play as a number 10, is being re-positioned in a deeper role where he can have more time on the ball and dictate play.
By deploying the youngster in a ‘Pogba’-Esque role for the under-23s, United hope to have a failsafe approach for if their star man departs at the end of the season.
Manchester United Academy manager Neil Wood has been analysing Hannibal’s game and has assessed how he believes the teenager can break into the first team.
“Can he be in a deeper role during build-up?” said Wood, speaking after United defeat to Lincoln in the EFL Cup, as reported by The Athletic.
“And then as we get out of build-up, can he get himself into an advanced position to get into the areas that he liked to get into last season to hurt teams and really show his creative spark off?
“So I think that’s the next phase of his learning, for this season especially up until January when he probably goes away with the Africa Cup of Nations.
“He’s going to have times like today when he’s going to be a bit deeper out of possession, but in possession, he was pushing higher up the pitch.
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