NOW BLING IT ON!
£89m man Pogba hits back at his critics
WEARING diamond earrings and gold-plated spectacles, Paul Pogba turned up in Brussels yesterday looking every inch the world’s most expensive footballer.
When he spoke to the media for the first time since his £ 89million return to Manchester United nine months ago, however, Pogba (right) sounded like a man who has found the expectation difficult to handle.
The 24-year-old Frenchman’s performances have been solid yet hardly spectacular for a player who still seems to be searching for his ideal role.
Pogba has not always helped himself. The bling that was on display again here, the flamboyant hairstyles, the choreographed dance routines and that personalised emoji have not garnered much sympathy among his critics, who point to a record of seven goals and five assists in 43 games.
The statistics would be a little kinder had Pogba not hit the woodwork nine times but in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium for tonight’s Europa League quarter- final first leg against Anderlecht, he was finally able to mount his own defence.
‘People talk about the mountain of the transfer,’ he said. ‘The transfer is something else and on the pitch is something else. People are looking at me saying “Pogba should score goals, Pogba should do this”. I just have to do my job. My job is to be a midfielder, make the game, do some assists. Sometimes if I can make the team win, I will do it.
‘People judge me on not scoring goals and stuff like this. It’s true that I’ve had a lot of chances. Once it goes in and once it doesn’t. We keep trying and training hard to make it happen. We always want to do more.
‘I’m a midfield player and some people think I’m an attacking player. I give some assists to some people and they don’t score — it can happen. Nobody talks about this but it’s fine.’
Pogba was asked about comments by Rio Ferdinand, who criticised him for posting a video of a goal celebration with Jesse Lingard when United are struggling to finish in the top four. He said that he has since spoken to Ferdinand about it, saying: ‘He told me what he meant and I took it as advice because it’s a big club. It’s different generations, nothing bad. I love life. I like to dance. It doesn’t affect me on the pitch. For me, it’s just enjoying life. When I’m on the pitch, I’m serious. I’m focused and I want to win.’
Pogba, a beaten Champions League finalist with Juventus two years ago, is desperate to put United back on Europe’s grandest stage after the rather humbling experience of Europa League football this season.
‘When I signed here I knew I would play Europa League, it wasn’t a problem but we have to go back to the Champions League. That’s the objective, that’s the big one. It’s normal for United to play in the Champions League.’
United arrived in Brussels without Wayne Rooney, who trained with his team-mates at Carrington yesterday morning but was said to have a ‘ bad feeling’ about the ankle injury that has kept him out for the last two games.
Sergio Romero keeps his place in goal tonight, although David De Gea travelled amid speculation that tension between him and Jose Mourinho, rather than a hip injury, was the reason for his omission at Sunderland last weekend.
That has alerted Real Madrid but Mourinho told the keeper to put off any thoughts about his future until the end of the season.
‘I’m not interested in the speculation,’ he said. ‘I think if the player is, he shouldn’t be because we are playing very important teams and every match for us is crucial.
‘I don’t see David having any problem with it at all. The end of the season is the time when players can be thinking what is going to happen with their careers.’