Where Did it Go Wrong for Paul Pogba at Manchester United?
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When Paul Pogba joined Manchester United for £93.2 million in 2016, it was a British transfer record. The Frenchman returned to Old Trafford on the back of winning multiple Serie A titles with Juventus, playing in the Champions League final, and the 2016 European Championship final.
Just two years later, Pogba won the World Cup with France, scoring in the final and giving a fantastic team-talk to the French squad ahead of the match.
However, what was meant to be the star signing that was going to take Manchester United back to the top of the Premier League and European football turned out to be a huge disappointment.
That is not to say Pogba did not have his moments in a Manchester United shirt for the second time. He scored in the Europa League final against Ajax and was named in the 2018/19 Professional Footballers’ Association team of the year.
Pogba scored twice in a 3-2 comeback win at Manchester City in 2018 but the special moments were rare and one of the significant issues was in terms of his position in the team.
Pogba was played in a variety of roles at Manchester United, including wide on the left, a free role behind the striker, central midfield, and defensive midfield. He would have at least one good performance in each position but never delivered at a consistently high level to warrant staying in the same position week in, week out.
Not that the disappointing performances were purely Pogba’s fault. Manchester United have been a shambles on and off the pitch for some time. The French international was often surrounded by players who were not good enough.
If you placed Pogba in the Manchester City team, he would shine as one of the many high-quality players in the midfield for the current Premier League champions. He would not be seen as the ‘main man’ but another talented player in a fantastic team.
The more Pogba was billed as being the man who was going to drag Manchester United up from the depths, the weaker his influence on matches.
In his final season in the red of Manchester United, Pogba made 20 Premier League appearances. He scored just a single goal and although Pogba did claim 9 assists, 4 of them came in one game against Leeds United.
His final season highlighted how Pogba could be special in one match but have little influence for the next 5 games.
As highlighted above, the mediocre quality of the Manchester United squad in recent years has not helped Pogba in addition to the changing managers at the club.
There is every chance Pogba will join a club this summer and thrive. Onlookers will be questioning why he did not deliver the same performances at Old Trafford but perhaps some players need to be in a top team to produce their best and that could be the case with Pogba.o
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