It is no longer news that Paul Pogba’s second spell and final season is coming to an end at United, obviously this will be his last time putting on the famous red shirt as a registered player. Fans and pundits will have a tough time accepting him as a favourite, even coaches were left frustrated about his consistency.
As a brand Pogba was a top drawer like David Beckham but sports observers felt he was not committed enough to the cause, hardly did you hear he left training last or he was so dedicated to the sports like Ronaldo, Scholes or Beckham, a recent post on the times by Rooney himself was referring to an incident in training, on getting to the dressing room with Carrick still very disappointed after a painful loss they saw him and Lindgard dancing to music, such naive behaviour sometimes reflected him and the club’s results during his time as a sign of the times and a reason that extra element that separated great victories and winning streak was lacking.
Pogba is a very talented player, a multiple world champion at national level, at the U20 world cup he was part of the team that won France their first and only title and was named MVP ,that win made France the first country to win the world cup at all levels plus the Olympics and the confederation Cup a super slam. at senior level they will defend the world cup in Qatar this December he was also instrumental in their winning the trophy even scoring in the finals.
CLUB SUCCESS
He left united in 2012 for a winning machine at least domestically at Juventus, winning the Serie A Four times during his time. his return to United had as highpoint a europa cup(he scored in the finals) and EFL cup, titles not fondly associated with the super brand called Manchester United, he was in the team during their decline period from 2013. Sir Alex Ferguson let him go the first time and had no regrets like he did when he sold Stam It was not about any misunderstanding with his agent,it was more of an hindsight indicative of United’s future without him.his managerial career can never be questioned because of his sale, he had lots of successful rebuild that kept the club on top for so long. His purchase of Christiano Ronaldo was a masterstroke, very few would have believed that the Portuguese will turn out as the greatest forward in world football plus one of the greatest brand ever,the Brazilian Ronaldinho that went to barca instead had an outstanding career his potential was already manifesting at PSG unlike the Portuguese, his promotion of academy players was also a benchmark for other leading clubs, usually the transition was a success story . Pogba needed game time as quickly as possible the gaffer felt otherwise. He wanted him to grow into the team with time. something had to give.
The decline of United cannot be put on his shoulders, a clear understanding of who Pogba is needs to be stated for posterity.
THE REAL PAUL POGBA
His exploits starting with juventus that had a winning culture with stardust players such as Pirlo one of the greatest in his position, Vidal(a few core players that led Chile to back to back historical copa America titles, Tevez an Olympic champion, the legendary Italian defence Cellini, Bonnucci (European champions)and Buffon a world champion, they reached the champions league finals knocking out one of the greatest football teams ever real Madrid the defending champion at the semi finals before their irresistible run of triumphs started the following season, that loss also prevented an all Spanish finals of the greatest teams in that era and a chance to replicate the five consecutive title run of the Alfredo Stefano era(1956-1960) Juventus lost to a Barca team led by Messi, Neymar, Suarez and let’s not forget Xavi, Iniesta, Busquests and Rakitic. He played with the very best and delivered his best performances.For le blue, world champions and euro league winners(one of the most difficult tournaments to win) he had as midfield companion Kante, fellow winning specialists at juve Matuidi, Griezman,Mbappe and recently added Benzama. It was this Pogba that United wanted.It could be argued that Varane his team mate at France and United and other star players like De Gea and Fernandes were at United but in fairness you can not compare his previous club and national players with the coaching and playing staff at United. The level was not the same.It could be argued that both Juventus and France will win with or without him; evidence from turin, they went on to win four more serie A titles and reached another champions league final. Clearly Paul Pogba still has so much to give to football to be considered with the best legends the game has ever seen
THE FUTURE IS HERE
He may not reach the heights of Zidane remarkable for scoring great and history defining goals or never missing crucial spot kicks, or taking his teams to greatness, Pogba showed flashes and interestingly may still achieve immortality, age is on his side and a transformation is possible, consider the young Ronaldo of United and the one that helped them win the champions league both were miles apart. the one at real Madrid was beyond compare.the question will be does Paul Pogba have the motivation and discipline to reach such outstanding level? Currently Modric is the reference point.his problem at United was fans had a misleading thought that talent was enough and since he had, he could deliver but Pogba was never going to be a leader that dragged them into that level of domination that a Cantona, or Ronaldo had or the consistencies that the others delivered for a long period of time legends such as Keane, Van der saar, Scholes, Ferdinand, Evra or Giggs just to mention a few, he will not be in any best eleven selected by football experts as a United player. The decision taken for next season favours both sides
Let them part ways and rebuild their promising paths to greatness.
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