TIME TO STEP UP, POG
Scholes: Paul faces big battle to win back his United place
PAUL POGBA has been warned he faces a battle to win back his place at Manchester United.
Pogba, 27, has been injured most of the season and has managed to play just eight games, having had ankle surgery in January.
The Reds’ club-record £89million signing has now made a full recovery and is in contention to play in their first Premier League game back at Tottenham on June 19.
But United legend Paul Scholes believes Pogba’s prolonged absence means he will have to prove himself to boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer all over again.
“Paul has got a little bit of work to do to get into the team,” said Scholes.
“Before the outbreak happened and the stop happened, you have to say that the players who were playing – Nemanja Matic, Scott Mctominay and Fred – they were doing well in midfield.
“It’s not going to be straightforward for Paul. He’s got some work on his hands just to get back into the team. But we all know what Paul’s capable of. He’s a top player when on form.
“The better players you play with, surely that can only be to the benefit of the team.” United supporters are excited at the prospect of £46m January signing Bruno Fernandes teaming up with Pogba in midfield for the first time together.
Fernandes has been a revelation since joining, with Scholes claiming he can do for United what David Silva did for rivals Manchester City.
Silva, who is ending his glittering 10-year spell at City this summer, will go down as one of the greatest players in Premier League history.
And Scholes said Fernandes, who already has three goals and four assists in nine games, can be just as influential for the red half of Manchester.
“Sometimes it just takes one player to turn a team around and knit a team together,” Scholes told an MUTV group chat.
“I don’t like talking about City, but you think of David Silva – that player that links all the play together and I think we’ve found him in Fernandes. He has totally transformed the team.
“It’s gone from watching a little bit of a dull team, to one player coming in and all of a sudden they look like they’re going to create, they look like they’re going to score goals every time he’s in possession of the ball.
“He’s fitted in straight away. Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra struggled for the first six to eight months. I think they signed in January. It wasn’t until the season after where they really got used to it and went on to have amazing careers.
“But this lad, he’s picked it up straight away and it’s been a real benefit. He’s transformed the team.”