Former Manchester United player Paul Scholes has questioned whether the club should pay a world-record fee for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, saying the 23-year-old is not in the same bracket as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
United have been negotiating with Juventus over the transfer of Pogba, who is a top target for new manager Jose Mourinho, according to media reports in Britain.
Scholes was Pogba's team mate when the latter was a teenager at United and feels despite his obvious talent, the France international has a long way to go before he can stake his claim as one of the world's top players and command a record fee.
"He was a very talented young player, I played with him and I knew how good he was," he said. "He played for the first team maybe once or twice, but from my understanding he was asking for too much money.
"For his age, he was asking for far too much money, that too for a player who hasn’t played first team football.
"Okay, he has gone on to great things. I think certainly there has been a lot of improvement. He needed to improve if he is going to be a player worth £86m.
"I just don’t think he is worth £86m. For that sort of money, you want someone who is going to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere worth that kind of money yet."
Scholes also praised Manchester City's capture of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Guendogan for a fee worth around 20 million pounds, according to British media reports.
"I think Guendogan is a really impressive player," Scholes said. "I've seen a lot of him at Borussia Dortmund."
"If he can stay fit, I think he can be a fantastic player. I also think he is great value for the money Manchester City paid for him. I think he is a bargain."
