Premier League English

The Player, The Team, The Super Agent…Or The Manager? Part 3

(Concluding Part of a 3-Part Series on Taking A Deeper Look At The Manchester United Conundrum)

Judging from all the buzz that’s been circulating almost daily on the airwaves and the tabloids, it’s safe to surmise that the longer Pogba remains indecisively at Old Trafford, the more he’d be discussed at random. Dominic King brought to recall an almost similar situation with Luis Suarez at Liverpool where it “… gets to the point where no matter how good the player is he can become too heavy, oppressive. And you have to make the clean break.” 

“They should have sold him last summer,” Jason Burt added. “Why did they hold on to him? Obviously they wanted their valuation met but they should have just done the deal and cut him loose. That’s a sign of strength. They saw it as a sign of strength to keep hold of Paul Pogba. But if he’s not going to be the player they want him to be or they can’t fit him in, they should cut him loose and let him go.”

Manchester United staff had long since been weary of hearing about Pogba’s oft-spoken public desire to leave Old Trafford. It’s long been a conundrum that they’d already gotten used to hearing about. Even the players have lately confronted the matter in the locker room with disdain.  

For what it might or might not be worth, let’s not forget that what’s been happening around Pogba is the same kind of agitation that finally tipped the scales for Sir Alex Ferguson and got him to axe Pogba back in 2012. Fergie arrived at the final conclusion that the French midfielder’s talent, however unquestionable, was just not worth the innumerable hassles that came with keeping him.

The ensuing debate is not on Pogba’s credentials as a player par excellence. Regardless of whether he’s supremely brilliant as one and a World Cup winner, to boot, the crux of the matter hinges on where  his commitment lies. Many United supporters are also questioning this, and for good reasons. Most are inclined to believe that the 26-year-old is just not worth all the fuss. 

To be fair to the man, and the player, there have been positively scintillating moments when Pogba’s talent blazed new trails and emblazoned the skies of both English and European football. His Premier League performances bear ample testimony to his quintessential football skills and shot-making prowess – scoring 24 times and producing 23 assists in 95 games, during which period United emerged sixth twice and second once. Not least too is his distinction of having scored the opener for United in their decisive final victory over Ajax in the Europa League in Stockholm, 2017. 

Today it’s a totally different story. When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer chose to put his faith in Pogba after taking over at the helm from Maurinho, he was rewarded with eight goals and six assists in the first 10 games Pogba played for the the club. In all, eight wins and two draws. However, the following 10 didn’t run as expected, to say the least. 

The penultimate question that begs to be asked is: Is Solskjaer’s unshakable faith in Pogba justifiable or is he just obdurately refusing to differentiate the woods from the trees?