Pogba has endured a troubled season at Old Trafford, and is by no means guaranteed to be in the starting line-up for the Manchester derby. He responded to Guardiola's revelations by posting a picture of himself on his Twitter feed with a hand cupped to his ear during a United training session, captioned "Say what?" United manager Jose Mourinho indicated in late March that it was up to Pogba to explain why his form has been so inconsistent in recent months, declaring it was nothing to do with the France midfielder’s early-season injury problems.'Mino Raiola offered Paul Pogba to Man City in January!' Check out Pep Guardiola's amazing revelations after Goal's @Sammy_Goal asked him why the agent hates him so much! pic.twitter.com/yAHNHLQIE9
— Goal (@goal) April 6, 2018
There is no suggestion that United had given their approval for Pogba - signed for a club-record fee of £89m ($125m, 102m euros) from Juventus in 2016 - to be offered to City. Guardiola's ire was aimed solely at Raiola, with whom he has had a long-running feud dating back to the days when the Catalan coach was the manager of Barcelona. That feud was reignited two weeks ago when Raiola called Guardiola a "zero", a "coward" and a "dog" after Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of his clients, moved from United to join the LA Galaxy. Raiola has long believed Guardiola forced Ibrahimovic out of Barcelona in 2011, a year before they won the European Champions League –- a competition the Sweden forward has never won.? Pep Guardiola has revealed that super-agent Mino Raiola offered Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Manchester City in Januaryhttps://t.co/1DnmnH3E7F pic.twitter.com/4gbZZgh3yZ
— Sky Sports PL (@SkySportsPL) April 7, 2018
"Finally, the people discover my secrets –- I am a bad guy, I'm a coward," Guardiola said Friday with heavy sarcasm. "But two months ago he (Raiola) offered me Mhkitaryan and Pogba to play with us. Why? "So if I'm a bad guy, and he (Raiola) has to protect his players, then he has to know he cannot bring the players (to) a guy like me, who is a dog. "Comparing someone to a dog is bad. It's not good. He has to respect the dogs." City are currently 16 points ahead of United, although they did suffer a shock 3-0 loss to Premier League rivals Liverpool in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final tie at Anfield on Wednesday.Mino Raiola has told BBC Sport he did not speak to Pep Guardiola about Pogba and Mkhitaryan, but did not deny telling Man City of the players' availability.https://t.co/YUKgu287Mp #MCFC pic.twitter.com/ieiJS9a2Us
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 6, 2018
But amid criticism that City are 'buying their way' to trophies, Guardiola, also a former manager of German giants Bayern Munich, defended his level of spending as necessary to ensure success. Guardiola has paid out around £500m for players since arriving at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, but does not believe that is excessive. "I am so, so happy with what we have done this year," he said. "So, so happy. It's impossible to do that, to play the way we play, the results we achieved, without top players. It's impossible. And today the top players cost a lot of money. “When the people say, 'You win because you spend 600 million euros', I don't know how much money we spent in two years. But it is impossible to do it without money.Mino Raiola has responded to Pep Guardiola's claim that he offered the Man City manager Paul Pogba in January https://t.co/Nn6JfdN9UK pic.twitter.com/VPTWevqLaE
— Goal (@goal) April 6, 2018
"When people you say, 'You can do that, Pep, what you have done in Barcelona or Bayern Munich without those players, is it possible to do that?' No, it's impossible, so be calm. "Maybe in two years we spent more – but over an average of five or 10 years, a lot of teams spend a lot of money," he insisted.Pep Guardiola says it's impossible for Man City to replicate this season. ?? https://t.co/mojbgeejbN #MCFC pic.twitter.com/zKnPDjdnqk
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 6, 2018