Le Havre product Paul Pogba joined United as a sixteen-year-old and rose quickly through the academy. Within two years he broke into the first team and started playing for the reserves regularly. In the 2011-12 season he made his first-team debut but throughout his first season, he never got enough game time to his liking.
While Sir Alex Ferguson was justified in not overplaying an eighteen-year-old, especially with United chasing the title, the situation spun out of control as the French teenager left for Juventus the following season. Over the next four years at Juventus, he went on to become one of the most dangerous box-to-box midfielders in the world.
Brute strength, genius skill on the ball, incredible athletic prowess and a fancy for the incredible; Pogba was readying himself to become a Ballon d’Or material in the coming years. The dynamic midfielder had developed into a world-class player and Manchester United, who let him go as a teenager, had to fork out a record-breaking £89.3 m to bring him back.
After a decent first season back, Pogba started the second one on a hot run of games and implanted his swashbuckling nature of football on the team to give United a bright start. However, injuries and loss of form has now seen new controversy spark up at Old Trafford with reports claiming that relation between the manager and the player is deteriorating and Pogba regrets his move to Old Trafford, so much so that he wishes to consider his future. The United boss, however, has been quick to reject such claims.
‘I don’t have to speak with you about my conversations with my players — it’s my problem and the player’s problem,’ said Mourinho.
‘Paul accepts he has not been playing well but that’s all. It’s a big lie that our relationship is not good, that we don’t communicate, that we don’t agree with his positions and his involvement in the dynamic of the team. Say what we all know in the last couple of matches: he didn’t play well. Period. End of story. Now it’s my problem and Paul’s to improve his performance level.’
The manager also criticized that the role of pundits who, he believes played a big role in creating such negative controversy.
He said: ‘The position is quite ridiculous. I don’t want to be nasty but here we have the biggest pundit industry. There are hundreds of them with great background and knowledge in football. Some of the guys are paid millions. They are paid to read the game and explain the game. Don’t say bull***t. You don’t need to come with, ‘We want to sell him’. You don’t need that. Some of them I know for many years and I know their surname is Liar and that’s not nice. He plays against Huddersfield.’
It now remains to be seen whether the Portuguese’s words are proved right and Pogba returns to action with an improved attitude and performance.
