Pogba’s attitude is embarrassing.. and proves Fergie was right first time

PAUL POGBA is the first player I would sell this summer if I ran the show at Manchester United.

Enough is enough. Seven defeats in nine games is unacceptable – and this time, the spotlight should fall on the players who are letting the club down, not the manager.

I can understand why Pogba made the cut as the only non-Liverpool or Manchester City player in the PFA’s Team of the Season.

Around the time most of the votes were cast, he was in outstanding form.

For a couple of months after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came in as interim manager at Old Trafford, Pogba was probably one of the most effective midfield players in the world.

Even now, with 13 goals and nine assists, his stats stack up pretty well.

He has had the most shots, passes and goals in the team, while only Luke Shaw and Nemanja Matic have covered more ground in the squad than Pogba’s average of 9.91km a game.

That is not a particularly high figure for a midfielder, and I would love to know how much of that ground has been covered making high-intensity runs or sprints.

I would suggest not many, or not enough. Looking at the stats alone, you might ask why I’d sell him. But maybe brand Pogba is now simply too big an influence at the club.

No individual is bigger than Manchester United, as history suggests, and he is the first one Solskjaer should sacrifice when he begins his massive rebuild of the squad.

I think it’s fair to say Sir Alex Ferguson may have been right all along not to keep Pogba first time round.

Fast forward to the present and Pogba (right) is a massive influence in that dressing room, from senior pros in the first-team squad to impressionable youngsters who idolise him and follow him on social media.

But the example he is setting, in terms of his workrate and desire on the pitch, is embarrassing.

In Barcelona the other week, he gave the ball away by the corner flag and trotted back as if it was someone else’s job to regain possession.

His jogging indifference at Everton last weekend was a symbol of United’s worst performance for years, and in the derby it was no better. Against City, Pogba should have been helping to shut down Bernardo Silva for the opening goal, and when Leroy Sane scored the second he wasn’t even in the frame.

Maybe I’m wrong to single him out – but this is the man who fired up his French teammates with a pep talk before the World Cup final that went viral.

I know Pogba is surrounded by world-class players when he plays for France, but the difference is startling.

When your talisman, and probably the most creative player, is happy to give Scott McTominay the ball and hand the responsibility to a youngster, something is wrong at the heart of United.

To watch Raheem Sterling, Bernardo and David Silva fight like demons to win back possession for City on Wednesday was a reminder that all great teams work their socks off. Pogba, by contrast, was jogging along at his own pace. Incredibly, if United were to sell this summer, they would likely make a handsome profit on the £90million Jose Mourinho shelled out because market prices have gone through the roof. But what we’ve seen in recent weeks is such a waste of talent and ability.

Pogba grew up as a teenager at United so the club’s DNA should be embedded in him, but talent is nothing without the desire. Maybe Reds legend Roy Keane was right in what he said about Pogba: Managers come and go, and they get “thrown under the bus” like Mourinho, one of the most successful managers of all time, but leopards don’t change their spots among the players.

I wasn’t good enough to wear the red shirt of United as I wasn’t in the top bracket ability-wise, but I cannot fathom why a World Cup winner with so many gifts can’t – or won’t – pull out all the stops every week for one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Based on the evidence of the last three games against Barcelona, Everton and Manchester City, I’m afraid it’s time they got rid of Pogba.

At the back end of 2018, United were trying to line up Mauricio Pochettino to take over from Mourinho.

But if I were in Pochettino’s shoes now, looking on from a safe distance at Tottenham, I would be thinking, “Wow, I’m so glad I steered well clear”, because it’s going to take years to rebuild

Manchester United.