In three words, the official Manchester United website summed up why the club is in danger of becoming a laughing stock of English football.
Thank You Paul. For what, exactly? Thank You for a zillion social media hits but only one or two on the field of play. Thank You for costing us well over £200million in transfer costs, wages and agents’ fees while only showing what you can do in the odd game or two. Thank You for scarpering for next to nothing, setting us back the best part of £90million to re-sign you and then disappearing again, for nothing. Thank You for the final insult of a £3.8million ‘loyalty bonus’. Thank You for saving your best football for France.
The website urged people to relive the great moments of Pogba’s Manchester United career(s). And if you had 30 seconds or so to spare, you could have done exactly that. There was a goal in a tier-two European final, that second half at the Etihad... and that was about it. Somehow, United’s social media team - seemingly, the most important team at Old Trafford - managed to string the Pogba highlights reel out to two minutes; some effort, that. Let’s face it: Pogba’s second spell at Old Trafford, which spanned six seasons, was an unmitigated disaster.
One of the world’s greatest players - and, make no mistake, he IS a great player, a truly great player - has been a club footnote for the prime of his footballing life. Imagine if Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola had got their hands and minds on Pogba. Do not tell me Pogba is any less talented than Kevin De Bruyne or Mohamed Salah, because he is not. He just happened to re-join a club that was more interested in clicks than kicks.
Pogba has been unfortunate with injury, granted, and there has been no lack of commitment on his part. But he has also been a towering symbol of everything that is wrong with modern-day Manchester United. Twenty-nine Premier League goals and 41 assists across six seasons is not the sort of return a club should be getting out of an elite player.
He has been an Instagram asset - and that is pretty much it. And the player himself is only partly to blame for this, in that United’s footballing brains-trust never seemed to have a plan for him to start with and never seemed to have a plan for him at any point during these past six seasons.
It is almost as though they buy trinket players and make it up as they go along. It is almost as though the signing is the most important thing. Remember Alexis Sanchez at the piano? Remember #pogback? Well, now it is #poggone and, sadly, one of the world’s greatest player’s time at one of the world’s greatest clubs will be remembered as little more than a hashtag. And for that, both the player AND the club have been to blame.
