I think Ole made a mistake when he took over as manager by not further bringing Pogba back onside and making him a real part of the leadership group, thereby completing his rehabilitation after the falling out with Mourinho.
Pogba looked like one of United’s best players during his first season in 16/17. He regressed a little in 17/18, but still looked a key player when the whole team was playing poorly and overachieving. Mourinho then publicly stripped him of any captaincy role once the incredibly self destructive streak began at the start of 18/19. Pogba was excellent under Solskjaer and I assumed at that point things would continue to trend upwards. It's always felt as if Pogba has continued to be held at arm's length though, treated as another playing passing through the club, rather than be made one of our core.
From everything we know, Pogba seems to be a well respected and influential member of the dressing room. I wonder how he felt seeing Maguire just come in and quickly be made captain. I wonder how he felt seeing Bruno come in, have the rest of the midfield built to provide him a platform, and have him essentially become the de facto vice captain. I would be surprised if he didn't feel slighted. I believe that for any team to get the most out of Paul Pogba, you need to make him one of your pillars and thrust responsibility onto him. For France, he plays as if he has that accountability for the overall performance of the team and that I feel stems from the status bestowed on him from the management relative to the rest of the squad. That's not really happened at United. Manchester United felt more like Paul Pogba's team under Mourinho, than it does now where Maguire and Bruno are afforded that status.
I really like Pogba and he'd be one of United's key players for me. I thought he was a great signing at the time and I would have bought players to complement him. It's always felt as United bought Pogba expecting him to to become the midfield, rather than acquiring complimentary players and honing them into a unit. Nobody in our squad, or really in the PL, has the same weight of expectation on them to be such an all-round midfielder, judged on goals, chance creation, workrate and defensive contributions.
Offering him a mega contract is pointless unless he is going to be given the accordant status within the squad, becoming one of our long-term leaders and captains, and we are going to have a team that would allow him to naturally flourish either as a mezzala in a 4-3-3. Neither of those things looks like happening, so I cannot understand why you would pay him £500,000 per week, and presumably give him and his agent a signing-on fee of tens of millions of pounds too. I can't help but feel like we've pissed away his best years.