I mean, that just isn't true. And I say this, as someone who is a fan of his.
Ole gave him that free role and it worked for about 3 months until the team lost its legs and found that Pogba just wasn't reliable enough off the ball. We then struggled massively while he was out and had to be forced into buying Bruno to play in the position that was initially earmarked for Pogba because otherwise, we'd have not got in the CL and Ole would have lost his job. Bruno then comes in and immediately elevates the level of the team in a way that Pogba simply never did and his fans didn't have to use any and every excuse in the book to alleviate him of any responsibility like you are doing with Pogba.
Anyhoos, I digress. We then reverted Pogba back to the double pivot with Matic. It again, worked well for a short period of time before his inadequacies again, came to the fore. He then gets injured again, and from his return, we've had to play him off left, which again, started off well, before petering out a little.
Are you sensing any pattern here?
Bruno has had the sort of impact Pogba could only have dreamed of making. He isn't as naturally talented as Pogba, but he's a) much fitter than him, and b) much more reliable than him too.
I think when Pogba's career ends, I think he's going to look back at his first move from Utd with a tinge of regret. He has a remarkably complete skillset but moving when he did meant that he never refined it and put it all together. The tactical deficiencies he had in the reserves at Utd, are still there today. Juve under Conte and Allegri never bothered to hone him and make him that complete midfielder that he could and should have been, and instead just let him do what he wanted off the left with Pirlo, Marchisio and Vidal all doing the hard yards in terms of proper midfield play. When he was given the reigns to run the midfield, or to run the attack as the 10 at both Juve and here, he flattered to deceive and that's because he's missing that all-important tactical acumen from his game.
Fergie stripped Ronaldo down as a player to his base elements and then proceeded to build him back up and only gave him a free role after he learned to play as part of a team and not for himself. It took him 3 years to learn, but once he did, he was given the keys to the team and that free role. Pogba left before he could go through that process, and it shows in his performances.