Pogba signed a five-year deal with an option for a further year, United announced early Monday as new manager Jose Mourinho continues to rebuild a team that is out of the Champions League this season.
Pogba was a promising 19-year-old when he left the northern England club after his contract expired, having only made seven appearances as a substitute. He joined Juventus, which reportedly had to pay around $1 million.
Pogba returns as one of the brightest young talents in the game after winning four successive Italian Serie A titles, and for a fee that eclipses the approximately $111 million that Real Madrid spent to sign Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013.
“It has always been a club with a special place in my heart, and I am really looking forward to working with Jose Mourinho,” Pogba said. “I feel the time is right to go back to Old Trafford. I always enjoyed playing in front of the fans and can’t wait to make my contribution to the team. This is the right club for me to achieve everything I hope to in the game.”
Juventus already has spent most of the windfall from Pogba’s departure, signing Gonzalo Higuain from Italian rival Napoli for $99 million earlier this week. That ranked as the third-most expensive transfer in world football — after Bale’s move and Cristiano Ronaldo’s $104 million deal from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009.
Pogba is United’s fourth signing since Mourinho replaced Louis van Gaal as manager of the record 20-time English champions.
“Paul is one of the best players in the world and will be a key part of the United team I want to build here for the future,” Mourinho said. “He is quick, strong, scores goals and reads the game better than many players much older than he is. At 23, he has the chance to make that position his own here over many years.”
Defender Eric Bailly, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic already have joined to help United return to the Champions League. In the upcoming season, they will have to settle with playing in the Europa League. The same agent, Mino Raiola, represents Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Pogba.
United will be hoping the newcomers, signed at a collective cost of $190 million, can deliver the team’s first Premier League trophy since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
Pogba’s expensive return to Old Trafford follows a bitter split. Ferguson accused Pogba of not showing United “any respect” and insisted he was happy to let Pogba leave in 2012, three years after joining from French club Le Havre. For his part, Pogba said he was unhappy at a lack of first-team opportunities under Ferguson, especially when there were injuries in the squad.
Although Pogba illuminated the Italian league last season at Juventus, he wasn’t as dynamic or influential for France at the European Championship, where his team lost to Portugal in the final.
Mancini joined Inter in November 2014. The team led Serie A toward the end of the first half of last season but faded away to finish in fourth place, missing out on Champions League qualification.
Inter announced Mancini’s departure in a statement on its official website on Monday, saying the decision was by mutual consent.
The squad was delayed last week in Atlanta. Officials said it was because they tried to buy plane tickets to Rio de Janeiro at the last minute and then found a charter plane was too small to carry the entire delegation.
Despite those issues, Nigeria was the first team to qualify for the quarterfinals in Rio. It beat Japan 5-4 on Thursday, landing about six hours before the game, and then won 1-0 over Sweden on Sunday.
Sports minister Solomon Dalung says he went into the team’s dressing room after the Sweden game to apologize for the “unfortunate incident.”