Barcelona president opens the door for Paul Pogba to join Chelsea

Have you been going through Paul Pogba transfer news withdrawal? Today is your lucky day, then, as FC Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has ruled them out of the running for the Juventus' star:

"We will not buy Pogba this year. We are not planning with him for next season. He is not part of our sporting plans for 2015-16 at this stage."

At first glance, this would appear to be great news for Chelsea fans hoping to see the Blues land Pogba, but I'm not putting much stock into these particular comments. Barca are holding presidential elections later this month, and Bartomeu's biggest rival, Joan Laporta is using Pogba as a key piece of his bid for election*. Laporta seems to be the pretty heavy favorite at the moment, which isn't surprising given Bartomeu's involvement in earning the Catalan club a Transfer ban, as well as the whole Neymar tax-evasion scandal.

Frankly, there's very little chance that the Pogba situation starts to heat up before Barca's presidential elections are held, as Juventus would be foolish to let the player go without getting one of the world's richest clubs involved. Here's hoping Bartomeu wins...