“It Was Not A Mistake, I Was Very Happy There” - Paul Pogba Speaks On His Time At United

Following Paul Pogba’s departure from Manchester United, the French midfielder has returned to the club he was signed from, being unveiled as a new Juventus player on Tuesday.

Pogba, who previously spent four seasons at the Turin side, left to join United for a then world-record transfer fee.

Having previously left United as a youth player, Pogba’s return was seen as the start of a new chapter in the history of the Manchester side. 

Joining as the marquee signing of a window which also saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Eric Bailly join, Pogba was the star of Jose Mourinho’s first season as manager. 

With United winning a trio of trophies that season, expectations were naturally quite high for both Pogba and United to continue to improve. This however, never truly happened.

Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho lifted three trophies together at Manchester United. (Alamy)

Spending five more seasons at United, Pogba rarely was the player that was expected of him. With issues both his own, and the club’s keeping him from reaching his own potential. 

Now back in Turin, Pogba spoke on his six season return to Manchester United, revealing where he believes it began to go wrong.

“Well you know, when you play in a team and the coach changes every year it is quite difficult to adapt,” said Pogba.

“It’s difficult to cope with that, and I had some injuries, these probably influenced my mentality and the fact that I couldn't play and have the same rhythm as before when I played 90 minutes every game.”

“There were different factors,” he explained. “Coach, teams, the position on the pitch, all these contributed to block me a little bit in my performance.”

“But now I've left it's another Paul, another Pogba. I truly hope I won't get injured again, I feel good, I'll play in my position and hopefully do better than in the last few years.”

It’s true that Pogba faced all three of these issues when at United.

His time at the club saw him play under three different managers, with Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Ralf Rangnick all taking charge. 

Positionally, he was used in a variety of roles by the three managers, whilst his injury record saw him miss out on 89 matches. One for every million of his £89 million transfer fee that brought him back to Old Trafford. 

Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard are just two of the many names who have left Manchester United so far this summer. (Alamy)

However, despite all these issues, Pogba insisted that his time at United was not a mistake, and that he was happy when part of the United squad:

“I'm very happy with the years I spent in Manchester,” remarked Pogba. ”I grew a lot, I became a man there, I learned a lot. It was not a mistake, I was very happy there.”

Pogba would make 157 Premier League appearances whilst at United, scoring 29 goals, and picking up 38 assists. He has now signed a four-year contract with Juventus.

Topics: Manchester United, Paul Pogba, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, Juventus, Football

Jozef Kostecki

United fan for all my life. Old enough to remember our last league title, young enough to not remember it well.

@JozefKostecki