Stam urges United to keep hold of ‘quality’ Pog
JAAP Stam has urged United to keep Paul Pogba at the club and build their next great team around him.
The French midfielder continues to be linked with an Old Trafford exit at the end of the season, a year on from admitting he was looking for a ‘new challenge’ in his playing career.
Pogba has been sidelined for much of the current campaign but former United defender Stam believes he still has plenty to offer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer going forward.
The Treble winner believes Pogba can form an integral part of the Reds’ next great squad and says he can’t wait to see him play alongside Bruno Fernandes when football resumes.
“I would love to see Paul stay because I think he’s a quality player,” Stam said.
“People expect a lot from him and there’s a lot of criticism towards him. Sometimes you can say that’s fair but other times the criticism he gets is not correct.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, of course. He needs to get fit first but I would be happy if he did stay and played another season.
“Pogba is a player who is creative, who wants to play a little bit in his own way, and sometimes you need to give him that little bit of freedom.
“If you look at Fernandes, Pogba and McTominay, I think those three together in midfield could be very interesting.
“Fernandes could play at No.10 and Pogba could play as one of the two sitting midfield players.
“He has the legs to go forward as well so you could play with two attacking midfield players if things are going well, but otherwise he can drop next to McTominay and they could play with just one No.10.
“Pogba has the legs to run from box to box, so if he can do that it will give him more of the freedom he wants to play. I think it would be very interesting.”