For someone capable of oozing such class as a player, Paul Pogba's latest exit from Manchester United has been distinctly lacking in that trait.
While Juan Mata said goodbye to United this summer with a classy video message befitting of such a fine figure, Pogba's departure has centred on settling scores and painting himself as wronged. Pogba does just that in an Amazon Prime documentary, absurdly and conceitedly entitled The Pogmentary, which attempts to provide some understanding of the enigmatic France midfielder.
In it, Pobga – a free agent on June 30 - takes aim at United, for failing to “seduce” him with a big enough contract offer and accuses them of failing him – rather than the other way round. Pogba, now 29, returned to United from Juventus in 2016 for a club record fee of £89million, aged 23, for what should have been the prime years of his career.
Six years on, he leaves having won just the Europa League and League Cup, a meagre return for a player who cost United a total outlay of £180m for what amounted to an underwhelming spell. Of course, Pogba was a World Cup winner with France in 2018, but the brutal reality is that was never able to reproduce the fine form he showed for his country in a United shirt.
Pogba and his camp blame United for not getting the best out of him, while those on the other side of the debate point to the player's lack of motivation in his second spell at Old Trafford. There is also the question of Pogba the brand – and how much he can monetise his image off the pitch - being more important to him and his representatives what he can achieve on it.
That much is evident in one scene in the film, where Pogba's former agent Mino Raiola, who passed away in April, is speaking to his client on the phone about the player's future. “What is the best for you?” says Raiola. “What is the best for your family, for your career? What is the best economically? What is the best for your brand?"
Who is to blame for Paul Pogba's exit from Man Utd? Have your say here
Pogba himself goes a step further, comparing himself to Jesus, in an egomaniacal segment of the film where he is discussing his perception by others. “As long as my players and my family are happy, I don't care if the others aren't,” said Pogba. “Even Jesus wasn’t unanimously rejected, they still crucified him.”
The notion of Pogba the brand being more important than Pogba the player is reinforced in another scene, where he is chatting to former France team-mate Blaise Matuidi. “You have to use your image,” Pogba tells Matuidi. “The Americans get it. They got it long ago. Your image is your value. Use your image, use your value. You created it."
Rafaela Pimenta, Raiola's lawyer, who is now looking after Pogba, was even more blunt than her client. “Pogba is something we built,” she says. “It’s a brand. It has emojis, it has Pogmojis, it has cups. He has shows, he has haircuts and we hope to entertain people with that.”
Pogba's fractious relationship with former boss Jose Mourinho is touched upon, while in another scene he claims United “didn’t help” and “didn’t show care” about how he was feeling after an injury. Injuries undoubtedly blighted Pogba's second spell at United, where he started just 50 Premier League matches out of a possible 114.
For all the talk feeling undervalued, Pogba could simply not be relied upon at United, his second coming ultimately one of the biggest mistakes in the club's rich history. No amount of spin in a one-sided documentary can change that fact.
