What? Isn't that contradictory to your posts.
We "helped" gave boosts to many players in the ranking, not just players who joined us but also those who are linked with us. However only CR and Becks reaches the top (unfortunately stats started in 2004, so we may omit Beck, but seriously he's famous when he's with us, not because of Real). The others managed to reach top 5.
I say it stems from your assumption that Pogba "should" be among the very top. His name is just not strong enough. And still there is a clear quick rise in his rank circa 2016 when he's linked and joined us.
There’s nothing contradictory there. We are, clearly, a popular team - we have players in and around the top. But Real Madrid and Barcelona are at the VERY top, it seems.
I don’t think Pogba ‘should’ be anywhere. My point was that if even he, after breaking the world record, couldn’t reach the top, then it further underlined my point that we are not as popular as Real or Barca. You say his name just isn’t strong enough - this is football we are talking about and he had just broken the world record. And signed for one of the most popular clubs in the world. Just not THE most popular, I would say this particular data suggests. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, another hugely popular player, also joined us that summer - but neither of them could break the very top of that list. The likes of Rooney, Pogba, Hernandez have been our most popular players in recent years. They are steady in the top 10 while they are with us, but never really threaten the top. Neymar comes along and challenges the Ronaldo/Messi duopoly - but since Ronaldo left us, nobody has really reached those heights of popularity - at least based on this graphic.
My point is simply that United’s most popular player is still always a few off being the most popular in the game it seems. I would have thought we’d be higher, at least with a couple of players at certain times - like Rooney, Pogba, Zlatan, Kagawa, Hernandez. It seems whoever are Real and Barca’s most popular players tend to sit at the top of that list.