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Paul Pogba opens up about his exit from Manchester United with honesty
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba opens up on his exit from the club citing the lack of love from the fans as one of the key reasons for the departure.
After spending his youth days at the club, United signed him back from Juventus in 2016 for a mammoth fee of around £93m.
Although the first season back went well under Jose Mourinho and the team won three trophies, things started falling off after that. His relationship with Mourinho wasn’t good, not helped by the fact he was inconsistent in performance and availability.
Here’s what the 2018 World Cup winner about his exit from United (h/t Manchester Evening News):
“We have already won, not the Premier League, but titles that Manchester have not won for a long time. And I came back to Juve, why? Because it’s really the club that helped me push myself.
“And really the love from the fans, the love from the club that I get, I didn’t get that in Manchester. I was quite surprised when I came back to England, already with the transfer I was given a label. It was quite sad.”
Initially and through the tough times, the United fans were generally in grave support of Pogba. But, if the performances started falling off, it is tough for the people to keep backing the player. The role of social media does not help matters too.
Amidst all that, one can say that the Frenchman’s second spell at the club did not go as many of us imagined when he signed back in 2016.
The 30-year-old had a struggle of a campaign back at Juventus after exiting United last summer. It won’t be a surprise if his top-flight career whimpers out despite promising so much more. One can also say that he conquered the game by playing a key part in France’s World Cup triumph in 2018.
For United fans and the club, it is time to look ahead now. The focus should be to back Erik ten Hag in the market after what he did with a thread-bare squad in 2022/23.
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The Dutchman has the tactical mastery to get the team to reach new heights next season. There is no point in dwelling on the past. Pogba was one of the biggest disappointments of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era given what we paid for him and how he left us as a free agent, not giving us a chance to recoup anything for him.
But thanks to that, we can be smarter, wiser, and get in players we know would fit in well in our system rather than just going for the biggest name on the market.
