The most significant part of Manchester United’s 2022 transfer window so far is that their £89 million ex-world record signing, Paul Pogba, has left the club for free… again.
Since signing for the Premier League outfit for a world record fee in 2016, Pogba at Manchester United has, to put it bluntly, failed. Why the move failed is a debate for another time, however, most fans in the red side of Manchester will agree that the hype initially generated by his signing never really materialised beyond short bursts of brilliance.
Paul Pogba is not short of suitors for his signature, as he has been linked with multiple clubs this summer so far - but the most prominent links have been with Italian club Juventus - the club he left United for last time and the club that received his £89m fee.
Advert
Speaking on his future to Uninterrupted, Pogba has outlined that he wants to take his time to consider his options.
“I just want the best for me, you know,” detailed the stylish Frenchman, sitting in a plush red Louis Vuitton and ripped blue jeans. “I’m thinking of putting everything together, take my time and I’m just looking for the best [option]. I just want to play football, be myself always, always be myself and enjoy what I do.
“I need to enjoy what I do because otherwise like I said, I cannot perform well. I don’t want to be thinking negatively. We can be losing games, losing trophies, but you have to be happy where you are and enjoy yourself. That’s what I’m looking for.”
Advert
Enjoyment is something that Paul Pogba has spoken about often - he has always been consistent in claiming that he plays his best football when he’s enjoying himself. This is no clearer than when he plays for France, where he is often surrounded by teammates who are also his close friends, such as Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann or Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe.
However, what also may be considered from this statement is Paul Pogba hinting that playing for Manchester United, at points, was not enjoyable. Pogba has always caused a huge divide between fans of the club, with some arguing that he did not have the authority of consistency to play for the club, while others claim that the squad should have been built around him from the start.
In this interview, Pogba continued to talk about how he wants to use football as a vessel to make a wider impact on the world.
“[Football] has a big impact, and it gives me some of those opportunities that I can be more than just a football player. I want to be an example, I want to be a legend on and off the pitch and help my people, help young kids, just help the world and give them what I’ve learned through football and through everything else.
“I think some people would need that - it can be a push for them, for the young generation that’s coming up. I just like to help people, I like to help the world, and I just want to do right because at the end, that [is what] will stay, you know.”
Advert
It is no secret that Paul Pogba’s story is one of struggle to success. It has been widely reported over the years that as a child he used to have to share a bed with his family in order to sleep at night, and it is this kind of experience that he is referring to when he says he wants to give people “what he has learned” through more than just football.
Paul Pogba, as mentioned before, is an incredibly divisive figure. Some see him as a self-absorbed, egotistical young man who cares more about himself and his own image than his job of being a football player - and those who argue this point of view have a valid reason to feel this way.
An example of this is a match that was played between Manchester United and Liverpool in January 2017, which Pogba used as a show to launch his Twitter emoji. The fixture had his emoji all over the advertising boards, and he had it painted onto his hair.
In that fixture, he then had a terrible game, gave away a penalty and was saved from blame for a loss by a late Zlatan Ibrahimovic equaliser.
Advert
But, despite occasionally pulling stunts like this, Pogba reaffirms that he wants to be a good role model through his religion.
“Sometimes, to be a Muslim, it’s not easy, but you just try to show the example of Muslim people in sport, and just in real life that it’s not what we can see sometimes in the media - we’re just normal people also and we try to follow our religion in the best way we can and give just a smile, give good deeds to people who will do nice things, and try to help the world in the way that the previous people that used to do it - we just try to follow that.”
Paul Pogba and Manchester United parting ways is a decision that suits all parties best. It’s a decision that harms either party in the short term, but in the long term, both will most likely benefit from it.
There is little doubt among many fans that wherever Pogba does end up next, he will most likely rediscover the form that got him into the 2015 UEFA World XI, that won him the 2018 World Cup and earned him the title of the most expensive player in history back in 2016. It’s just unfortunate that this couldn’t happen at Manchester United.
Advert
Topics: Manchester United, Paul Pogba, Juventus, France