No footballer on the planet divides opinion quite like Paul Pogba. To those who worship him, he is one of the most gifted players in the world: a true all-round midfielder who excels in every area of the game. To his growing list of detractors, the French ace is a long-time underachiever who has never truly made the most of his undisputed and considerable talents.
First, the facts: Pogba is a World Cup winner, four-time Serie A champion and formerly the world’s most expensive footballer of all time. He remains one of the sport’s most marketable faces, and continually coveted by the elite.
And yet the Frenchman has also left those at Manchester United scratching their heads more than once – so much so, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer even dropped him for a short stint in 2020-21, prompting France boss Didier Deschamps to speak out on a bleak situation “where he cannot be happy”. Rumours about an uncertain future refuse to go away, fuelled as they are by an agent who seems keen (and that’s putting it mildly) to move him on.
So, as Les Bleus aim to pocket major honours for the second tournament in a row, there’s still one question swirling: will the real Paul Pogba please stand up?
Leaving Old Trafford for Juventus in 2012 was certainly no bad call. A hugely ambitious Pogba was equally successful in Turin, winning that aforementioned string of Serie A crowns and two Coppas Italia, as well as reaching a Champions League final. Alongside Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal, he helped to form one of the world’s most lauded midfield trios, rocketing in status from talented prospect to the most in-demand young footballer on planet Earth.
Manchester United won the fight for his signature in 2016, and announced their world-record €105 million deal in typically low-key fashion, with a video alongside grime megastar Stormzy that broke the Twittersphere. Having originally left due to frustration with a lack of opportunities, United’s prodigal son knew he’d have no such concerns upon his return.
And yet, while Pogba’s profile has grown over the past five years, so too has the debate about his career. The mercurial Frenchman turned 28 in March and is no longer that thrilling youngster with his peak years ahead of him – regardless, speculation linking him with a move away from Manchester is just as fervent. At the centre of it all is his agent Mino Raiola, who declared his client’s time at Old Trafford “over” in a December 2020 interview. “Paul is unhappy with United as he is no longer able to express himself in the way that he would like,” sniffed Raiola. He changed tack in February this year, saying, “I can’t speak about Pogba because people are nervous – they don’t sleep at night. I have to work quietly... If I speak, someone gets offended.”
Finding truth amid the bluster isn’t so straightforward, but the speculation itself is a sign that things haven’t exactly gone to plan for Pogba since his return to the Red Devils, when he declared his intention to win the Premier League, Champions League and Ballon d’Or.
Perhaps the club is equally deserving of blame, however. While Pogba has failed to claim any of the three big honours he mentioned at his Old Trafford unveiling five years ago – or come anywhere close, for that matter – he has lifted football’s greatest prize of all, with France.
The midfielder’s performances at the 2018 World Cup rubbished suggestions that he was incapable of putting his individual talent at the service of the team. Pogba was excellent as Les Bleus triumphed in Russia; he was disciplined and diligent, as well as inventive and expressive. Team-mates praised his leadership skills, as they often do.
Deschamps will be hoping for more of the same at Euro 2020. The France manager has experimented with several different midfield configurations over the past 12 months, with Pogba featuring alongside Adrien Rabiot in a 4-4-2, next to Rabiot and N’Golo Kante in a 4-3-1-2, and sometimes on the bench to assess other options such as Moussa Sissoko, Steven N’Zonzi and Corentin Tolisso.
If he’s fit, though, there’s no doubt that Pogba will be in France’s starting XI when the world champions meet Germany on June 15, aiming to replicate their lauded predecessors of two decades ago who followed up World Cup glory in 1998 with continental conquest in 2000. Deschamps was, of course, France’s captain for both.
If Pogba can inspire Les Bleus to Euros success this summer, the Manchester United man will be remembered as an integral part of one of the most successful international teams of all time. Just don’t expect it to end the debate about him.
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