When he left the first time I was on the old ESPN message boards and remember arguing with quite a few United supporters that it was good that he left. My thought at the time was, who does this kid think he is to demand higher wages when he's barely played? His time would come. And when he steps into the first team, his current contract would be renegotiated.
Some argued that the return of Scholes that year sealed his fate and effected his development. My argument was that he was just a teen and his time will come. It's not like we don't give our youth a chance.
He signed for Juve and went on to start 18 games that year in the Serie A, which is probably about how many he would have started for us.
Fast forward to 2016 and we resign Pogba. My first thought was, why are we bringing back a player who SAF couldn't be bothered with? If SAF didn't fight for him, then he's not worth it. But I wanted to like him. He was one of the most exciting midfielders in Europe and our team was screaming for some star power in that position.
And trust me...I tried. I really tried.
But I have never seen a player with some much talent play with such little heart. On more than one occasion he got out played by Mark fecking Noble. Let that sink in. I have always said that Ramos is the most overrated player in the history of the game. That's not true. Pogba is.
If it were up to me, he wouldn't even see the bench for United ever again. I don't care how good he can be. Much like "Scholes was taking playing time away from him", he is taking playing time away from VdB. He is a virus.
I've seen people argue that we play him out of position and that it's Ole's fault for not getting the most out of him. Sorry, but that's all on Pogba. Mourinho was right. He's a virus. Get him out. And if he plays today, I will lose all respect that I have for Ole...