how suprising and completely out of character
Paul Pogba officially leaves Manchester United
- Thread starter L1nk
- Start date
Yeah, I have been saying this for years. I have never heard anyone come out and say Pogba is a prick. Everything I see from him and others suggests hes a fun guy who would be a good mate to have around. Problem is, this isn't a pub team doing it for the socials. You don't want players that no one likes in your team but you also don't want players who don't give a shit if you win or lose. Players who don't work for the team or put the team above themselves. You can deal with greedy and self-centred players when they are carrying the team or putting in performances week in week out but you can't keep those players if they are putting in those performances 1 in 5 games. Salah is greedy but he backs it up with the goods.
If I was to rank what makes a good player, their personality and affability would rank very low once you were at "isn't a dick" levels. Work rate, desire, selflessness, consistency, application, output would all rank far higher. I don't dislike Pogba at all beyond his lack of effort for United but its hard to argue that he has given it even close to his all since coming back.
He will regret it at the end of his career I imagine. Perhaps not.
Whatever the form and injury record of Pogba, his availability for a transfer fee of zero this summer piqued the interest of several of Europe’s top clubs. Undoubtedly the most eye-catching of those clubs are Manchester City.
The idea that City’s approach was designed to antagonise the red half of Manchester — or form part of some elaborate scheme to provoke United into a reaction — can be ridiculed by the fact that Guardiola personally met Pogba to discuss a move across town. Guardiola explained in the warmest terms why he wanted Pogba to join City.
Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, then presented a significant contract offer. The salary was not as high as the one Kevin De Bruyne is on, or new signing Erling Haaland will be, but the proposal placed Pogba among City’s top earners.
Pogba considered it, but was conscious of the media furore that would be triggered by swapping Old Trafford for the Etihad and, more importantly, after his home was burgled in March he felt a change of scenery was required. He has, for the most part, been settled with his wife Zulay and their two children in Cheshire, living close to team-mate Victor Lindelof.
Paris Saint-Germain made a contract offer a week before the season finished, but it was lower than the one from Juventus. Complicating matters was the fact PSG were in the midst of a dramatic swoop to tie Kylian Mbappe down for three more years.
Mbappe is a good friend of Pogba’s in the France squad, thus heightening the appeal for him returning to their hometown. But the finances required to persuade Mbappe to spurn the lure of Real Madrid meant PSG’s pot for paying Pogba was reduced. The musical chairs did, though, mean Real had more budget to spend and Bernabeu executives intimated to Pogba he would get an offer from them too.
Juventus’ bid to sign Pogba will be helped by a tax break if he signs before June 30.
Agreed, apart from the occasional good game, an absolute flop. Not even closely worth the money we spent on the transfer fee and wages, sad piece of business-
Good post.
A little Bit weird that no big club takes him for free. Coming back to Juventus by accepting a shorter and less expensive contract. Well he's been rubbish for the last 3 years.
Don't think it's weird at all. Hes not that good
He was made an offer by City - it's literally two posts above yours. Guardiola personally met up with him to tell him his role and the salary offer was higher than what Juve are offering. He didn't take it on because of his association with United and the furore that would ensue. His house in Manchester was recently broken into too, and he has two kids. PSG also made an offer and Real shown interest - though theirs was not a concrete offer. Juve has the allure of a tax break though that not many clubs can compete with. This will be his last big contract.
Clearly enough to make us turn down offers from Juventus and Madrid in 2019. Adidas lobbied for him to stay because they needed an Adidas figure at United. And that's also one of the reasons we extended his contract in October 2020 triggering the option in his contract after he refused to sign a longer deal.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/54549060
Big players from every team in the world get their houses burgled on match days in any and every country. Don't believe me? Google (player name) burgled. Including Dybala AT Juventus https://football-italia.net/juventus-star-dybalas-home-robbed/ . The tax break is spot on though, there's no club on Earth outside of the Emirati state that will offer the sort of tax break you get through that Italian Brain Return thing.
There was an article about 4/5 years ago which I cannot find now, where it was like a 'behind the scenes' thing with Pogba where they interviewed him and various people from his past (like the couple he used to live with when still in the United Academy) and one of his quotes was along the lines of "if you're not having fun, what's the point?" and I think that sums him up entirely, he's not a bad guy - he's just a bit of a man child who doesn't take his profession seriously.
He is being paid insane money because of his talent, but he doesn't have the drive or professional standards of the very best in the sport. His number 1 motive is to be happy, which is fine but it's the reason he is nowhere near one of the world's best footballers despite having all the talent needed to get there.
I always talk about desire, character, professionalism, passion, fighting for fans, club, manager and yourself when we talk about players. Ofcourse you need more but those mentioned are what I'm looking at first and most. I don't want our players having anything else beside football. It only takes away concentration from what is important. The more I think about it the more I talk like RoyKeane.
As you said, sometimes you need to look through fingers when players are self-centred but only if they are good for the team.
OK? I merely mentioned it as it was one of his considerations - among others also mentioned in my post as to why he's looking for a scenery change and didn't think going to City was the wises thing to do - as stated in the article.
He has been disappointing of course, but nowhere near rubbish. He was playing with a quite poor team. Not easy to do much better.
In the meantime, he greatly contributed to France winning 2 international trophies, including the biggest of all. I can't remember the last time a United player had such an impact on his national team.
And the contract offered by Juventus is not "less expensive"... He will be making up to €11M/year after-tax... That's the equivalent of £350k/week.
Ah yeah the bullshit "if he plays well for nations he must be able to play well for clubs" narrative.
One, the styles are very different, international football has taken a turn for laborious and conservative often dosile football. Second, the format is very different, one only plays a handful of games even if their team goes all the way for internationals. Its not remotely comparable to 38 game seasons.
I don’t actually mind Pogba as a person or player, but my biggest gripe with him is people who consistently say he’s world class and the insert one of the many excuses used for him to explain why he’s not at United. He’s does some things very well, he does a lot of the basics pretty bad. No world class player walks down a contract and only has one or two offers sat on the table after the contract has expired for half the money he was previously on.
6 years. 6 years of debating if he's good enough or not.
6 years.
Let that sink in. We still have people claiming he's "world class"
Jesus wept. For the money we paid for him, for the insane wages we gave him, for his hype, for his talent he has to go down as one of the worst signings in modern history. World class players don't sit on the bench when McTominey and Fred are on the pitch. That tells you everything you need to know.
Talent is just great, every player needs talent, but without hard work, the correct approach and mindset your talent is useless. Pogba goes down for me as a premier league flop, one of the era's biggest underachievers, not just at utd but the whole premier league.
I cannot put into words how happy I am he's off so we can stop the muppets claiming he's the best midfielder in the world. Common sense can resume
6 years.
Let that sink in. We still have people claiming he's "world class"
Jesus wept. For the money we paid for him, for the insane wages we gave him, for his hype, for his talent he has to go down as one of the worst signings in modern history. World class players don't sit on the bench when McTominey and Fred are on the pitch. That tells you everything you need to know.
Talent is just great, every player needs talent, but without hard work, the correct approach and mindset your talent is useless. Pogba goes down for me as a premier league flop, one of the era's biggest underachievers, not just at utd but the whole premier league.
I cannot put into words how happy I am he's off so we can stop the muppets claiming he's the best midfielder in the world. Common sense can resume
Probably.
Pep has already had Haaland forced on him, I doubt he would tolerate another player being forced onto him.
Real Madrid have a European Cup winning midfield. Adding a slouch like Pogba would upset the dynamic.
Juve have Locatelli, Rabiot and Arthur in midfield. With all due respect, those three are not Vudal, Pirlo and Marchisio. Unless Pogba pulls his socks up, I couldn't see him function in that midfield.
As for PSG, no.
The trouble with Paul Pogba is he just doesn't care. I mean, dancing in the dressing room after a defeat, that doesn't give off the impression of a player who cares.
He's the French Gareth Bale. International football is more important to him.
Nothing in that link to suggest Adidas "lobbied him to stay". Adidas have no control over our transfers and certainly don't have the power to get a player to stay at the club.
Pogba has always been aware of the added value to his bottom line if he leaves on a free. He didn't stay for the greater interest of his sponsors, let alone the club.
This isn't true about Pogba either.
Pep met with Pogba to convince him to make the switch to City, by the way.
Ignore them. It's baffling that they still spend time talking nonsense about a player that isn't a concern for United anymore.
Take a quote from Rooney but ''forget'' the next sentence where Rooney praised Pogba for his mentality and called his attitude examplary. Rooney said Pogba application was fantastic, Pogba his mentality spot on. He (Pogba) always wanted to win, commited to the team, strong character.... Puts work in every day. All those things Rooney said about Pogba, but you missed that and just focused on the negative part.
Of course, Pogba didn't stay for Adidas. He stayed because United triggered the option, he was simply forced to stay and he chose not to try and go to the clash à la Kean vs Spurs. But in his current free agent situation, Adidas is part of making him choose Juventus (an Adidas club) over PSG (Nike).
I meant Adidas lobbied United to turn down Real offers in 2019 and keep Pogba here.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/man-utd-facing-pressure-adidas-16780587
He is playing well for France, you can't take that away from him. And has played well for his previous club. He did it consistently for Juventus over 4 years. He did it sporadically for us. Unfortunatelly we never had any sort of stability to help him perform more consistetly to the best of his abilities... And he is not the only one. Most of our signings have been disappointing to say the least.
I really doubt it. Watching Pogba in a Pep or a Klopp team would be hysterical. He'd last 15 minutes per match and come off for being exhausted.
His attitude is exemplary? Mentally he was spot on? Always wanted to win?
Yeah. OK. Watching Pogba swagger and mince around the park for 6 years (minus 90 matches he missed because he was on holiday to Dubai... i mean.. "injured") didn't exactly fill me with fuzzy feelings that he gave a flying jot.
imaging Roy Keane or Cantona or Ferguson witnessed a player all jovial and dancing after a defeat.
Bingo. He’s nowhere near one of the best midfielders in the world. He wasn’t even the best midfielder in shite United teams when the likes of McT are forcing you out to the left you know you’re in trouble. Marketing and a few nice bits of skill won’t change that. The real truth is in his lack of options to move up and onwards after all his talk. He’s pissed away his best years here playing at a canter and I’d imagine most serious clubs can see he doesn’t provide value anymore, even on a free. Barca could have had him and they picked Kessie up instead. 3 years ago they’d have been all over it. Pogba just isn’t that good anymore
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It's not even about playing well.
He runs playing for France. He jogs for United.
I've seen him dripping sweat after France matches. For United, he barely breaks into a hard breath.
There's nothing in that article other than speculation. No sponsor has that kind of sway at any club.
United have never been beholden to Adidas or any other shirt manufacturer over signings. Our only real pressure with the deal with Adidas is the drop in sponsorship when we don't qualify for CL.
Are you questioning Rooney's judgement?
It's weirdly personal for many for some odd reason. It's not enough to say it didn't work out and move on, they've got to slate his character and conjure up this cartoonishly villainous persona, that counters reality, to justify the bile directed that way.
And that theory doesn't even make sense when you consider the fact that Real Madrid are arguably the biggest club in the world and sponsored by Adidas.
Definitely. Especially in his formative years, and certainly with his private life.
As a football manager, you have to have players who you would be happily be in the trenches with. I wouldn't trust Paul Pogba in a sand bunker, never mind the trenches.
From just watching the team and not looking into any stats I always got the impression we played better without him in the team. He just seemed to slow down play by taking too many touches letting the other team get back and set up, needed someone to release the ball quickly think thats why bruno looked so good when he first came but he got sucked into whatever the curse is that affects every player we sign.
So you don't think that Rooney knows whether someone cares or not? And why should anyone value your opinion on someone you don't know, you realize how ridiculous it is for you to talk about someone's character when you don't know them at all?
Funnily enough, it tells me something about you and your judgement.
This isn't a doubt/hunch thing. It's reported by the most reputable sports outlet in the UK. It isn't based on a Mystic Meg feeling of what random redcafe posters feel Pep would like and the opinions they post on here during their lunch breaks at work.
True. I'll just leave it alone now
Oh. Pogba's character is not in question. (Nor has it ever been)
Is there a direct quote from Pep, or his coaching staff or by Manchester City?
If not, it's typical media speculation, stirred up by agents. Or in this case, agent and/or brothers.
Im not taking anything away from him re. France. Just pointing out that its a different game format that doesnt expose him as much.
And you're wrong re. Juve. He wasnt actually consistent there and at that time Serie A wasnt even any good either. He played for a side walking the league by as many as 18 points each season.
"Pogmentary" 
That's insulting to Bale! Bale is 10x the footballer Pogba is, and has had a much better career.
In fairness, winning a World Cup ain't too shabby.