Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson’s damning comments on Paul Pogba come to light
Paul Pogba: Sell or keep?
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Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson apparently told French goalkeeper Pascal Olmeta that Paul Pogba would have issues if he wasn’t surrounded by the right people. The France international has been inconsistent under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer so far this season. And, with his contract winding down, the club have a big decision to make.
Manchester United thought they’d struck gold when they re-signed Pogba from Juventus back in the summer transfer window of 2016.
However, the France international has been hit and miss throughout his second spell at Old Trafford.
Pogba’s current deal expires at the end of the campaign and, at the current moment in time, there’s no sign he’ll renew.
Right now, he’s arguably most inconsistent than ever before.
Pogba was hooked after 69 minutes in United’s 2-2 draw with Atalanta in midweek, coming off when the Red Devils needed a goal.
After the game, Paul Scholes stuck the knife into the 28-year-old by saying: “[Pogba] needs somebody on him all the time… somebody there that he totally respects, he needs experienced people behind him.
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“How old he? 28? He’s a really experienced player. But he’s one of them that will get to 35 and be exactly the same.
“He’ll still be doing the stupid stuff where he’s stud rolling the ball, holding people off showing how strong and skilful he is.
“The biggest thing with Paul is his concentration. He goes away with the fairies at times.
“You think of the Juventus team he played in, where he was brilliant and was why we signed him.
“The experience around him – [Andrea] Pirlo, [Giorgi] Chiellini, [Leonardo] Bonucci, [Gianluigi] Buffon, an aggressive manager…
“He will need that treatment until he’s 35.”
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And, now, former French goalkeeper Olmeta has claimed Ferguson foresaw these issues with Pogba while the midfielder was coming through the academy.
He told RMC Sport: “I was invited to Manchester United training by Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I went there with two children from my charity. I had lunch with him and he told me about Paul Pogba, who was 17.
“He told me: ‘You see this player, he will be extraordinary, full of talent. He will be at the top, but he is a dreamer, and if no one is there to show him the way, he will never make it’.
“It was a few years ago, and today, we are in this debate.”
It seems Ferguson was right.
While there’s no denying Pogba’s talent, the United star often costs his side with silly mistakes in the middle of the park.
And whether the Red Devils end up tying him down, or cutting him loose, remains to be seen.
Rio Ferdinand, meanwhile, thinks Pogba would be wise to leave United behind.
“I wouldn’t commit if I was him. I’ve got to be honest, I wouldn’t,” he said.
“The biggest thing for me is that when Pogba leaves this football club, which he is going to at some point here, if it’s this summer he leaves this summer, people will go, ‘Oh, he was a failure. He was this, he was that.
“But I would say that it’s been a failure of the club as well.
“Because when you see him for France, what he does for France, you can’t tell me it’s not there.
“So when you spend the money you spent on someone like that you build around him and you put the team in a position that he’s going to actually be able to produce his best football.
“I don’t think that any manager has been able to unlock him in a red shirt in the Man United team.”
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