COMMENT: It was nasty. It was spiteful. It was genius. And when Pep Guardiola opened his newspaper this morning, the backpage is sure to have produced a wry grin. For Pep, it was Mission Accomplished.
Forget the battle and win the war. The 'backfire' jibes aimed at the Manchester City manager after the derby defeat a fortnight ago ring hollow today. That revelation about Paul Pogba, Mino Raiola and a January offer may've given the Manchester United midfielder a shot of inspiration for his two goals at the Etihad. But Guardiola knows more than anyone, adrenalin can only take a player so far. Ten days later and Pogba has been hooked against West Brom. United humiliated at home. And breaking news Tuesday morning is the Frenchman is up for sale. As stated: Mission Accomplished.
If Guardiola didn't cross the line, he certainly skirted it. With his Pogba claims, he broke an unwritten code amongst peers. You can bet your house there'll be managers, sporting directors and chairmen across Europe being offered City players this week. Maybe even today. But they won't blab about it. Otherwise it would be a free-for-all. Agents are constantly testing the market on behalf of their clients. And many on behalf of clients they wish to have. It's the game behind the game. But the one no-one freely talks about - unless your Guardiola.
Now to be fair, the City manager didn't drop this bombshell unsolicited - which has been claimed. He was pushed. Goaded. Into revealing Raiola's offer of Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to City in January. But the Catalan could easily have taken the media scrum down a different avenue. Instead, he let it all hang out. This "dog", this "coward", as Guardiola described himself, was offered two players by the man who has called him such names.
Yeah, he was defending himself. But he was also digging out Raiola - and in the process left Pogba hung out to dry. Which is where the nastiness of all this emerges. Guardiola knew it. As soon as those words left his gob. He knew he'd hit Pogba. And hard. With his manager. With his fans. And his agent's relationship with the United board. He may've been aiming at Raiola, but the one to suffer most was inevitably going to be the player.
For someone of Pogba's status to be hawked to rival clubs is bad enough. For it to be directly with United's nearest rivals... is there any coming back from that?
You hope it wasn't calculated. Pre-planned by Guardiola. But Rolland Courbis, the former Olympique Marseille and Rennes coach, believes it was. He reckons the whole thing was made up. That Raiola didn't even make contact with City.
"A few hours after losing 3-0 in Liverpool and before the derby with Manchester United and Mourinho, in the conference hall the important comment is that we were offered Mkhitaryan and Pogba two months ago?" Courbis scoffed. "He (Guardiola) is in the process of settling an account and to do that he has offered this? I do not even find him a good comedian!"
But the problem with Courbis' theory is the response of Raiola. We haven't heard anything from the Italian since Guardiola's claims. Normally so quick to react. So combative in the face of such claims. Raiola's current silence speaks volumes.
Which has left Pogba totally exposed. His performance at City offered some respite. But that's all it was. Against West Brom he reverted to type. At least when in a United shirt. Only this time the lethargic, listless performance came with the rider of Pep's claims. Did he even want to be there? Is he just marking time? They're fair questions for the United support to ask - particularly after what he produced in front of the home crowd on Saturday.
And you fancy Mourinho is feeling the same. Pep or Raiola? "One of them is lying", was Mourinho's response after the derby win. But again, Raiola keeping stum does his player no favours - nor himself.
As it stands, Raiola has allowed others to fill this vacuum. If Guardiola's claims remain unchallenged, what confronts United, Mourinho and their fans is their most high-profile and expensive player not only wishing he was somewhere else... but that somewhere else is City. They won't admit it, not even to themselves, but this is utter humiliation for United's board. And with every performance of the Baggies' type, that claim only gains more and more credence.
Hence today's 'shock sale' headlines. Without Raiola's intervention, there can be no other solution. Unless his agent publicly falls on his sword and absolves Pogba of any involvement, this €100m two-year investment will be scrapped.
And for Guardiola it will job well done.