When Manchester United paid a club record £89m for Paul Pogba in 2016, he was to be the start of a big revolution at the club, the start of something special. It’s not often that amount of money is spent on a player, no player to-date has cost more for a transfer to an English club.
Paul Pogba has at times shown why Manchester United put such faith in him, he has produced some of the most classic midfield displays you’d find in a full season, a prime example being the second half comeback at the Etihad last season. At some other times he has produced very lack lustre performances, losing the ball a very shocking amount of times. In a nutshell, Pogba has suffered inconsistency problems.
On the surface of it, it’s very easy to point fingers at the Frenchman, but looking beyond that, you’d deduce that the Frenchman cannot be and should not take all of the blames. Manchester United has been in a state of perplexity as a team over the years, from confused owners to an incompetent director of football and repeated hiring and firing of coaches. So much has been spent with so little to show. So many transfers which have proved misfits, indeed it’s hardly any surprise given they’ve had three(3) different managers in the last five(5) years, with all three signing their types of players.
Even the best of players would struggle in such environment and team, there’s been no clear plan, well maybe until this current season which there’s been a slightly visible progression, and the players largely don’t complement each other. Paul Pogba for most part of his Manchester United career has had to play alongside the likes of Matic, Fred and Scot McTominay who don’t seem to have the chemistry Pogba had with Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo back in his Juventus days. Pogba loves to receive the ball in advanced positions in other to pick his usually excellent passes which is not a luxury his Manchester United midfield partners afford him as they’re all runners who have relatively limited technical abilities to drive the ball forward the way Pirlo used to. There’s a genuine argument that Pogba can do better than he currently does, but the place of the team setup should not be ignored.
Manchester United have now signed Bruno Fernandes and he has gotten the ball rolling immediately, winning the United player of the month of February and the Premier League player of the month too. There’s been talks of a Pogba sale as a result and also talks of a double act of Bruno and Pogba in the same midfield.
This aforementioned double act exceeds far more than is seen at the surface of things. Manchester United would still have to convince Paul Pogba to put pen to paper which has been proving problematic. There have been suggestions too that Pogba has been wanting a move owing to the lack of a clear ambition by the team but with it looking like the team is getting back on the right track that the player would stay put. Whatever the off field reasons may be, a close look at the on field effects may not spell too good either.
Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes are very much out and out attacking midfielders who both relatively lack the required defensive discipline to form the kind of double act David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne formed during Manchester City’s centurion season. Fred who’s most likely going to be the lone holding midfielder would, or could, suffer heavily as a result with potentially so much work for him. Pogba already has a reputation for losing the ball too frequently while trying to make things happen, while Fernandes has a similar record, being a high risk taker which sometimes results in misplaced passes and attempts. Pogba and Bruno will guarantee plenty of chances in the attack but getting the defensive balance right may prove problematic.
The Pogba and Manchester United dilemma and the resulting media hiatus has gone on for so long. From Pogba publicly demanding a new challenge to the open criticisms from the Manchester United fans, at this point it begs to be asked, what next for Pogba and Manchester United.
