Manchester United’s media department went into overdrive when announcing the return of Paul Pogba in the summer of 2016.
A promotional video filmed with the French midfielder and rap artist Stormzy was one example of content created to mark this high-profile moment and ended with Pogba announcing two words to the world: ‘I’m back’.
Viewed as a signing that would transform United into genuine title contenders, alongside Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pogba was the standout name of that transfer window. Recruited for a then British transfer record fee of £89million, he arrived with something of a point to prove having rebuilt his career at Juventus.
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“I didn’t finish what I started here so I think I came here to finish it,” he remarked during his first interview back at Old Trafford. For Pogba, it is mission failed in that respect after being released by United on Wednesday afternoon.
His first season at the club saw Jose Mourinho guide the Red Devils to Carabao Cup and Europa League glory, with Pogba on the scoresheet in the latter final as Ajax were defeated 2-0 in Stockholm. There were other bright moments from the 2018 World Cup winner in a United shirt, namely his Man of the Match display in a derby win over Manchester City in 2018, but that is largely as good as it got during his second, six-year spell.
Controversy has been the only consistency to Pogba at United, be it training ground arguments with Jose Mourinho, statements over his future released on the eve of matches of major importance or cupping his ears to Red Devils supporters. It’s hard to think of a player in Premier League history who, for the price and hype that surrounded his move, has delivered so little in return.
The writing has been on the wall for quite some time that the 29-year-old would never become the player many expected him to be, something some were quick to realise while others chose to ignore. Jamie Carragher, speaking in 2018 after Pogba’s infamous bust-up with Mourinho in training, had no doubt in his mind that United would never unlock the star they were searching for.
“Who do I see in the right between these two? Jose Mourinho,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “They’ve both been there exactly the same amount of time and Mourinho has done more than Pogba in that time. I don’t know if Pogba is worth the hassle for what he gives on the pitch and there is an idea that it is one or the other and if Mourinho goes, we will see a new Pogba. You won’t, I can assure you won’t. No one plays for two years and then all of a sudden you change your manager and there is a different player, you’re seeing what Paul Pogba is as a player.”
Gary Neville, on the other hand, has consistently held on to the idea that Pogba would eventually come good – even if it meant playing him out of position in the team. Speaking in October 2020, he said on Sky Sports: “I find it really difficult to understand how a player who has played at Juventus and won many titles and goes on to play in a brilliant French team in a World Cup, wins a World Cup and is a star in that team, can’t be regarded as a great player. I don’t share your [Carragher] pessimism about him. I think Pogba can play in one of the front three positions up front.”
At Liverpool, dealing with players capable of causing disruption to the team has been handled appropriately at the first opportunity, with Mamadou Sakho serving as the obvious example. Jurgen Klopp has no time for egos getting in the way of his quest for trophies, highlighted by the standards set by the selfless duo of Jordan Henderson and James Milner in Pogba’s position.
Sent off during a 5-0 hammering at Old Trafford and hooked after ten minutes of a 4-0 defeat at Anfield, Pogba’s contributions in games against Liverpool this season sum up his career at the club and how the two teams have drifted so far apart in recent years.
It should come as no surprise Merseyside has not been mentioned as a potential next destination for the luxury midfielder, whose tendency to grab the headlines for all the wrong reasons has become impossible to ignore.
