Paul Pogba has always been surrounded by great players. It was the case at Manchester United when he was coming through the ranks and more of the same was to follow when the player moved to Juventus on a free transfer. Regarded as one of the greatest players ever seen in Italian football, Nedved had the opportunity to help Pogba improve as a player. It has been just over three months since Pogba came back to Old Trafford.

Nedved has revealed discussions and private talk that took place between the two when at Turin. Even though Nedved had already announced the end of his career, he was still having a major say in the Juventus team partly because he was one of the best in the business. The club had always celebrated its great players and it was the case with Nedved. He continued to be part of the club in various roles and he was given the opportunity to have a look at Pogba when the Frenchman arrived in 2012. According to Express, Nedved said:

“When he started at Juve, he had a good year. With Paul, we have the same manager Mino Raiola, so we used to be very close.

“I went with him to dinner and told him what he should do differently, how he should train.

“I told him ‘play simple and you will be king. Do more, work more. And if you only get one golden ball, it will be a failure.

“He’s a boy who wants to be the best.”

A previous Ballon d’Or award winner, Nedved claims that he had seen enough of Pogba to suggest that the Frenchman would also one day go on to win the coveted individual award. However, he had apparently told the Frenchman that it would be a disappointment if he was to win only one Ballon d’Or award. Such was the talent within the youngster, and it was clear that Juventus were not happy to see him go in the summer even though the club had just received a world record transfer fee of £89 million.

Pogba initially struggled to adapt to life at Old Trafford, but he has started coming good in recent weeks. The improvement in form has been brought about by the midfielder being asked to push forward much more than usual, while his starting position is also much higher up. Some critics have voiced their opinion in recent weeks that Pogba has not been contributing enough, but those criticisms will largely stem as a result of the huge transfer fee on the shoulders of the player.

Nedved is quite confident that Pogba will be a major player for United in the next decade. While he admitted that he was disappointed to see Pogba leave Juventus, he would understand the reasons for the player being unable to down the huge offer on the table. The Frenchman is one of the highest earning players in the world with the contract reportedly paying him £290,000 per week. Pogba left United in the first place as the club did not offer him a £65,000 per week offer when he was still 18.