It is very complicated to analyse.
There was the management of Mourinho in which Pogba arrived during the same summer. It initially seemed like a decent combination, but the conduit of Imbrahimavich soon left and with it a certain archetype of leadership that the Pogba benefitted from.
Mourinho then started lashing out and Pogba became prime target after Pogba came back as a World Cup winner. Pogba's format then upturned once Solksjaer arrived but then dropped (like the team , when it'starts fitness levels) fell off in 18-19.
It is is this period of 19-20, that is the most intriguing for me. I think once United lined with Pogba against Chelsea on that opening day of the season, we all felt that "okay, this is probably his last season here, but if can help us" get into the Champions League and get a decent fee, then sure, all parties will be satisfied. Solksjaer can continue his project without Pogba, but with Rashford more mature and Martial coming into his peak and of course Sancho arriving at some point (probably the summer 2020).
. Pogba was injured in early December, came back too early for one game and then injured again with reoccurring fragments of an ankle injury. Rashford sustained the back injury against Wolves in the FA cup replay against Wolves a day United were down to the bare bones in a defeat against Burnley losing 2-0 athe Old Trafford.
Our hopes of achieving something substantial looked remote. That is until.....Bruno Fernandes arrived at the end of January. All of a sudden we started an upturn in form. A win at Stamford Bridge, a draw at Goodison Park followed by a win against City in the Derby.
I was at that stage, resigned to losing Pogba with the hope that Sancho would come, but with also the possibility of Jack Grealish is as Villa looked like they were going green relegated. I even recall, Savage saying on BT sport after the FA cup win against Derby, that if United signed those two with another can't re back and holding midfielder United would be title challengers the following season.
However, the pandemic struck. Football was suspended , but came back that summer. United got Pogba back, Martial and Fernandes was in sensational form and better still we had the emergence of Mason Greenwood. We got Champions League and we were supposed to sign the players I mentioned above.
On the flip side football economics went to the wall and clubs were forced to hold onto their assets.
The question is what should United have done that summer?
Should we have decided, that okay, we can' the get Grealish and Sancho will not arrive this summer, so shall we invest that holding midfielder that releases Pogba into that free role alongside Fernandes and imitate France?
In other words reintegrate him, buy saying we are now a making a directive to how we are going?
Instead, I think United and more specifically Woodward used Fernandes as currency to say to Pogba we will offer you a contract, but actually don't care if you sign or not. Therefore , Pogba was always in a state of limbo and that is not his fault. It is that very fact, that gave Raiola the ammunition to make such statements we have consistently seen.
More specifically to the question (and I know taken long to get to it), I remember as a missed opportunity.
I remember when he came off the bench at the San Siro in the Europa League afer half time and seeing him stretching just before running onto the pitch and I honestly felt, he is going great to make a difference here.
5 minutes later he got the ball in an advanced position in the box and scored. What was previously a lethargic team perform became lifted and players were pinging one touch passes all over the pitch.
It is moments like that, that should have been more frequent. AC Milan would have been dreading him coming on and that is what Manchester United in Europe should be like!
Should United have done more that summer to have signed the correct players to push a title challenge in 20/21 in what turned out to be a unique season of upheaval ravaged by Covid?
A lot of people criticise Solksjaer, and yes ultimately was not the right guy, but my word, Woodward giving him just Van Der Beek, was a monumental Woodward cock up.
Pogba and Manchester United was a tail of wrong timing and poor communication.
Simply a story, of mismanagement, miss timing and more importantly and a ....... missed opportunity!
Forgot about this. Shows how pathetic we were run under Woody and how pathetic he was as a player. He’s the poster boy for our mediocrity in the last 9 years. Match made in heaven.
