Manchester United had sky-high hopes for Paul Pogba after shelling out a club-record £89million to bring the midfielder back to Old Trafford in the summer of 2016 - but the Frenchman has emphatically failed to live up to those expectations.
The 29-year-old's underwhelming second stint at the club will come to an end when the midfielder's contract officially expires at the end of this month; something both United and Pogba confirmed on Wednesday.
Pogba was signed to spearhead the club's revival, but the consistently inconsistent star has instead blended into the background and has appeared to be content with a peripheral role at the club - something that Roy Keane had previously accused the midfielder of doing.
The Irishman, who had a long spell as the club's captain during his time at the club, believed that Pogba 'did not want to be a leader' at United and was happy with a background role.
Speaking back in 2020, Keane told Sky Sports: "What I would say about Pogba, we’ve been saying for the last year or two that he needs to take more of a lead with the team. I don’t think he wants to be a leader. I think he’ll enjoy that Harry Maguire has come into the club, showing different leadership skills. And obviously Fernandes, leadership skills on the pitch. And I think Pogba likes that.
"I don’t think he necessarily wants to be the main guy. He probably wants to be the main guy on the social media side of things, but on the pitch he’s thinking, 'I’m glad of that, I’ll just be under that radar'.
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"We’ve always said he’s got that quality, and I think he never really wanted to be that leader at Man United. He doesn’t have to be now because he’s got a couple of other lads around him and he looks like he’s enjoying himself a bit more."
With Pogba now on the verge of walking out on United for a second time, it's hard to disagree with Keane's verdict. Rather than grabbing games by the scruff of the neck - the very thing he was signed to do - United's heavyweight signing failed to land any significant blows in the biggest games and seemed content to drift into obscurity when he was needed most.
His ineffective spell in the Premier League hasn't deterred a host of big-name clubs from pursuing a summer deal for the playmaker, who previously left United after running down his deal over a decade ago.
Paris Saint-Germain and United's bitter rivals, Manchester City, have been linked with a move for the much-maligned midfielder, but Juventus are currently the red-hot favourites to re-sign Pogba once his Old Trafford deal officially expires at the end of the month.
