Paul Pogba is now a free agent after Manchester United confirmed his departure at the end of his contract on Wednesday.
It brings an end to the Frenchman’s turbulent six-year stint at Old Trafford which had plenty of spells of blistering form but was also marked by its fair share of frustration over the midfielder’s form and fitness.
The midfielder’s entire stint at United could have been reflected in his 2019/20 campaign, when he started off brightly under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, before soon going off the boil and then ruling himself out through injury. Pogba featured in just 16 Premier League matches that term and just twice from the end of September through to June, after the league’s Project Restart after its postponement due to the pandemic.
Yet Pogba’s form in those closing weeks of the campaign were hugely impressive as he combined impressively with the new star man Bruno Fernandes and helped an in-form side recover from their damaging first-half of the season to record a top three finish. It was one of the Frenchman’s strongest run of forms during his time in Manchester and had appeared to salvage his career at the club for whom he had looked certain to depart that summer.
A report in The Athletic has now outlined how the central midfielder sent multiple text messages to Solskjaer that summer with a request: to push for the renewal of his contract. Pogba had 12 months remaining on that deal but was determined to pen a new agreement that would secure his long-term future at Old Trafford.
The Norwegian boss responded to that request by insisting that he had informed the club’s board of the situation and was pushing for them to renew Pogba’s contract. However, United’s directors opted against this and instead triggered the one-year extension on the player’s contract instead.
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That meant that Pogba would be at the club through to the summer of 2022, rather than 2021, but would ensure that his £290k-per-week contract would remain unchanged. This situation was said to have left the player ‘deflated’ and changed his long-term thinking at the club.
The following year, United did offer a new longer-term deal to Pogba – after they enjoyed their strongest campaign in years. The Frenchman played a bigger role, albeit one that was limited to just 21 Premier League starts, as United finished second in the division. Yet the player no longer had the ambition to commit to the club.
Now Pogba has left United for the second time in his career as a free agent. Despite enjoying highlights and brief moments of his best form at the club, it has largely been an underwhelming stint for what is United’s record signing.
Pogba returned to United after four years at Juventus following a club-record £89million transfer in 2016. The midfielder went on to make 226 appearances and scoring 39 goals during his second stint with the club – in a spell which was disrupted by losses of fitness and form.
