Why Paul Pogba is judged unfairly at Manchester United
By Bence Bocsak
The French international has often been criticised at Manchester United, but Paul Pogba has been judged unfairly on his spell with the Red Devils.
Paul Pogba is Manchester United’s most expensive transfer. He is also the club’s most expensive mistake. Four years prior, he had been on the books at United before he left on a free transfer to Juventus. The error to let him go would cost the Red Devils £89.3 million to be precise.
That made Pogba one of the most expensive players of all time.
He was just 23 years of age. The hype which surrounded him wasn’t unfounded. At Juventus, Pogba looked like a player who could conquer the entire world.
Just two years later, he of course did, helping to guide his country to World Cup victory with a man of the match performance in the final against Croatia.
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Unfortunately with United however, Pogba failed to conquer English football, let alone the world.
The Frenchman arrived at Old Trafford, with turmoil brewing. Jose Mourinho’s era might have commenced with much optimism, however it would ultimately herald a turbulent time.
Mourinho never embraced the United philosophy. The Portuguese coach clung to his archaic rigid and defensive system which inhibited Paul Pogba to be at his best.
Nonetheless, the French midfielder hasn’t been particularly bad during his second spell at Old Trafford. In fact, when Mourinho’s leash had been released, Pogba thrived under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
With the Norwegian in charge, Pogba produced his best season in his senior career with 16 goals and 11 assists in 47 games.
By comparison, in his best season at Juventus Pogba managed 10 goals and 13 assists in 49 games.
Of course, cruelly Pogba has failed to build on that impressive season this season due to recurrent injuries.
Nonetheless, the injuries which occurred were through no fault of Paul Pogba. Yet despite this, the French midfielder is perpetually ridiculed on social media outlets and in the mainstream media.
He has been labelled as a flop at Old Trafford which is simply absurd.
Pogba’s burden is that he has unfeasible expectations heaped upon him. He is regarded to be on the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but that’s an unfair comparison, considering Pogba’s plays much deeper than the two world-stars.
As a box to box central midfielder, Pogba has done well at United. He is still one of the best in the world in his position. The criticism by the likes of Graeme Souness is unwarranted.
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Do you think Paul Pogba is unfairly judged at United?