It's not like he tried to force his way out quietly. He publicly stated at a press event that he wanted a new challenge. If that's not a clear sign of a player being very keen to leave then I don't know what is.
I'm not surprised he'd want to leave. The current situation/project at United is very different to the one he probably envisaged when he was re-joining admist the fanfare of Mourinho's arrival. He's won the world cup and probably feels that he should be playing in the Champions League and challenging for the biggest honours. Signing a new contract would probably tie him to United until his 30s, I don't see that as something Pogba or Raiola will be looking to do.
I'll leave it to United fans to certify whether he'd be a major miss on the pitch or not, but as a neutral looking on I just think a massive asset like that can be used to strengthen a squad that needs investment in basically all areas, especially in midfield.
I’m a bit tired of this debate. He said to a reporter, at the beginning of the summer, that it may be time for a new challenge. I accept that. I’m not in denial about this.
I think the significance of that comment is being overstated by a section of fans. I have an issue with the degree to which a lot of our fans just ‘don’t like’ Pogba, at least on here. I think that once you are in such a position, everything that happens in real life seems to be seen through a certain prism, and something like Pogba saying it may be time for a new challenge is gold - real tangible evidence to validate their dislike. Before the comments, he was already being sworn at and abused by some United fans on the pitch. SINCE the comments, I have seen little to suggest he’s unwilling to see out his contract and do his job. For a different player, that may be seen enough perhaps. But for Pogba, we can’t let this go, because we actually have something beyond conjecture now to use to validate our dislike.
Now why does it bother me so personally? It bothers me because, football and riches aside, I see myself as a person with a similar profile as Pogba - and some of the abuse, and speculative theory about his character, feel very familiar to me. The ease at which he is summarised as having an ‘attitude problem’ is something a lot of other young black folk can relate to, especially women tbh, but men too. When looking at the tangible evidence, there is nothing to suggest he has an attitude problem to me. But it takes a lot less to earn that label for a Pogba. He is ‘lazy’, he’s ‘selfish’ - and I think those labels are unfair and without real basis other than a certain demographic being ‘lazy’ themselves with their labelling. I think if this were not football, it would be a lot less acceptable. As for his personal interests, the extent of his crimes seems to be that he enjoys dancing, with his brothers, in his own home and flash hairstyles. Music, dancing and hairstyles that the likes of Graeme Souness obviously cannot relate to, and clearly offends them.
Now to the football itself. The extent to which he has been ‘poor’ is massively overstated in my opinion. He’s always 2 or 3 below par games away from having had a ‘terrible season’. That’s largely due to the fact that he’s Paul Pogba, and good performances only serve to quiet people temporarily, and we are Manchester United, and so long as we are seen as a collective to be underachieving, individuals will be seen through that prism. The same applies to Martial. Even when he’s playing well, he’s always a few games away from being summarised by pundits in a way that Rashford is not. On this forum, I read all day about what more people want from Pogba the footballer. What he CANNOT do. I do accept those things. What bothers me is the lack of time for what he CAN do. I think people want him to be Lionel Messi and win games on his own for us weekly. I don’t think he will do that, but he will create chances regularly. Even defensively, I think he has many a game where he has great running stats. He is not a Scott McTominay or Darren Fletcher off the ball. But they are further away from being a Paul Pogba on the ball than he is from being them off it. But that’s okay. Players with a different profile who evoke different emotions also fail to track runners sometimes. They also let people by them sometimes. They also fail to pick a pass very often. There was a goal SWP scored at Old Trafford where he just walks past Paul Scholes, who just about half dangles a leg out. I can imagine the Sky Sports panel if that was Pogba. There would have been many times Scholes let his man go. But let’s forget that. Let’s focus on how brilliant a passer he was. And he was, of course. Willian scored a goal at Old Trafford last season where Scott McTominay totally lost him and let him run off him. It happens. And it doesn’t happen every week with Pogba either.
Bottom line, I think much of the criticism of Pogba, is steeped in, or exaggerated , due to an irrational dislike, that I have a problem with. I think it’s always one rule for him and one for everyone else, and so far in this thread - when challenged, it’s revealed itself quite easily. There was one poster when questioned on his points one
by one, has come up with ‘yea, he only scored about 4 from open play last season’ (we all know it was more), he is a disgrace for wearing a blue streak in his hair in the derby (evidence was shown of when he changed it for France which was dismissed), ‘I was able to watch games with an injured ankle’ and a lot of other weak arguments.
Is Pogba without flaw as a player? Of course not. It he without qualities and strengths? Obviously not. Many seem to want him sold, I want him supplemented. Bottom line is people don’t take to him. That fact has made him a worse footballer than he is in the court of public opinion, amongst a lot of other crimes he is labelled with.