I think the big issue regarding Pogba and (some) United fans is not really about him at all. I’ve observed on this forum for a long time that many United fans really don’t have a high opinion of their club. They reel off all the rhetoric of how ‘big’ the club is etc, but they don’t really believe it, and I feel when many fans look at United, they see ‘ugly’.
With Paul Pogba, I think many fans simply find it hard to love him because deep down somewhere, they feel he can do better than their club. He has been seen as ‘selfish’ or some sort of outsider to many since he came back, much of which is hard to justify. It’s like what I see in the Transfer Forum every summer. People expecting little, so discrediting the player in question or the club in order to prepare themselves for disappointment. It reads like many have been preparing for Pogba’s departure since he returned, because they don’t believe they can have nice things, not without a catch.
For his own part, Pogba has always been professional. I have seen little in 4 years to suggest that he loves Manchester United less than the other players, however, reading the forum, you would think it were some sort of established fact, and he’ll soon be ‘off to Real Madrid’. It, for the most part, has been totally baseless. When some comments emerged in the summer about him considering a new challenge, it was like a self-fulfilled prophecy, with, 3 years later, them finally getting some evidence to back up their nonsense. ‘Get him out’ they said immediately, no patience, understanding or fight for him because, in their mind, for whatever reason, he’s apparently never really been here with us. He made those comments, but we saw no sign of trying to force an exit, he had a full pre-season and turned up every day. He was brilliant in many of the games, but people were only interested in talking about the young ones, who they probably believe are more with us.
It would be the same with a player like Neymar. A large section of the forum would say they would not want him here. Yet if he were going to Real, it would seem like a natural order of things. We want to be as good as the best teams, but are naturally endeared to players who are good enough to play here, but not quite good enough to play for better or similar. That is used to punish the player himself if he does come here, because the internet has figured it out that he must simply want money or branding or whatever.
We have more patience in the likes of Scott McTominay, yes - he came through the academy, but largely because he’s able to play well while quite obviously being lucky and privileged to be at United. Any better than that raises suspicion, and a protective mechanism kicks in to push that player away, so that if/when they do go - people can deal with it better.
There is no real justification for this outsider treatment Pogba gets from many of his own fans. Suggesting he is feigning injury now is just the latest in this wierd relationship. Again, there has never, in his entire career, been even a hint Pogba would do something like that.
This is also linked to the obsession with ‘young players’. Too many fans don’t rate their own club. The implication is that because we are a club that could give an 18 year old a platform that no other top club would be willing to give him, he might actually really like us. The 26 year old version who is amazing, nobody thinks he would fancy us anyway, he probably wants to be with the other hot girls instead.
If Pogba does leave, after being fecking booed by his own fans, fans will act like they ‘knew all along’. For me, his biggest crime in terms of the rep he has gathered from many, is simply being ‘too good to trust’. If a player considered ‘one of ours’ performed like him, he’d be a protected species. It’s never going to be enough for Pogba to win the hearts of his own fans. He either doesn’t perform well enough for their expectations, so they can justify wanting him gone for that, or he performs to the best of his ability making an apparent departure seem inevitable to them. If you swapped Scott McTominay and Pogba’s names around, Scott would be called the best midfielder in the league. In fact, I’ve already read that he’s one of them on here! For not being anywhere near as good. But he’s a 6 out of 10 chick who makes us feel secure that she won’t leave us for a richer, better looking guy.