Paul Pogba is currently one of the hottest young talents in world of football. At the age of 22 he is already valued at £38.5 million* and has 3 Serie A titles to his name, along with an Italian Cup and 2 Italian Super Cups. He’s also performed on the international stage, winning the U-20 World Cup in 2013 and being awarded the 2014 FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award, a title he now shares with the likes of Thomas Muller, Marc Overmars and Pele.
The Frenchman came into United’s youth system at the age of 16 from AC Le Havre, who were in the French Ligue 2 at the time. Le Havre accused Manchester United of stealing the young Pogba but an agreement between the two clubs, behind closed doors, sealing Pogba as a United player.
He made his way through Manchester United’s youth system, winning the FA Youth Cup Final 6-3 on aggregate against Sheffield United. In the 11/12 season, where he made his Premier League debut at Old Trafford in the last 20 minutes of a 2-0 win against Stoke. He went on to make 7 total appearances for United’s first team across the Prem, League Cup and Europa League.
Unfortunately this is where it went stale from a Manchester United perspective. Pogba, and more specifically Pogba’s agent, wanted more money than they were being offered. This was supposedly taken as a sign of a lack of respect from Pogba towards the club with the starlet being dubbed as having attitude problems. However, the opinion from the Pogba camp was that Sir Alex Feguson didn’t respect him enough to offer a more deserving contract. In the end the two parted ways with Pogba signing for Italian giants Juventus.
Pogba was merely 19 when he moved to Turin but made an huge impact in his first season, making 37 appearances and scoring 5 times. His second saw another leap in performance as the youngster continued to improve. He scored 9 goals and set 16 up in 51 appearances. In his first World Cup, he won Best Young Player, scored and got 2 assist and; took France to the Quarter Finals, where they lost to the eventual champions, Germany.
Last Season was the big one. Despite a hamstring injury, which kept him out of 11 games, Pogba still managed to play 41 games, score 10 and create 11. His season ended with the Champions League Final in Berlin, after already winning the Italian League and Cup. Juventus lost 3-1 to Barcelona.
One of the greatest sights of the Final was Paul Pogba, comforting a teary Andrea Pirlo. Pirlo is not only a very experienced and world class player but is also 14 years older than Pogba. This scene proved how Paul has grown in character since leaving Old Trafford, his humilty, sportsmanship, confidence and team ethic has clearly over ridden any kind of bad attitude he once displayed.
The Frenchman has displayed his footballing skill, incredible rate of improvement, strong character and his professionalism and now the most elite clubs across Europe want to pry him away from the Italian Champions. Pogba has the current skill set, potential and achievements to make him potentiallsell for a world record fee.
As it stands Manchester City, Barcelona and Paris Saint German are favorites to sign the wonder-kid but Old Trafford have been linked with a bid for him. But Pogba has stated that he has no grudges against the United hierarchy, and has been quoted as reaffirming his love for Manchester United.
It might be wishful thinking, given that United have just added two quality midfielders and he was most likely just being professional when talking of his time, and possible future return to Old Trafford; but maybe he can be a Red Devil again. Some day.
*Transfer value true to TransferMarkt.co.uk 17/07/2015
2 replies on “United Alumni and Transfer Target: Paul Pogba”
Man. U should try as much as they can to lure Pogba back to Old Traford
The way the whole Pogba saga at United played out was disappointing to say the least. However, I can’t see United paying silly money to get him back so it’s time to move on from the topic.