Why Pogba is worth £100m
PAUL Pogba had the ball under his spell on the left side of the opposition penalty area, having nipped in to steal it during some uncharacteristically sloppy German passing. He rapidly waved his right foot over it, dummying to push it to the right to open up a shooting angle. He feinted once, twice, three times, waiting for the defender Shkodran Mustafi to lunge in. As soon as the substitute did, Pogba was gone in the opposite direction in a flash.
He took the ball to the byline and chipped in the beautifully flighted cross that had Manuel Neuer, the normally unflappable German goalkeeper, well, flapping. The ball fell from the keeper’s palm and Antoine Griezmann poked home the second goal that sealed France’s 2-0 victory in the European Championship semi-final in Marseilles.
It was a fleeting moment, over in a heartbeat, but it encapsulated why Manchester United are willing to swallow their pride and stump up £100m for the French midfielder Pogba. The 23-year-old is capable of moments of game-changing, goal producing magic. The sort of talent that old Trafford used to be so accustomed to seeing but that has been denied them over recent years. Marouane Fellaini is more elbows than elegance after all.
That United — well, Sir Alex Ferguson — let Pogba go when he deemed his financial demands distasteful and grew tired of his agent’s positioning, must be galling but that was then. This is now. And United need the sort of star turn that Pogba is. He has youth on his side which adds to the price tag but adds to the possibilities too.
It was not all glorious against Germany, there are rough edges still. He was caught out by the delightful first-half one-two between Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos and in tracking back clipped the heel of the Real Madrid player as he wound back to shoot. It should have been a free-kick on the edge of the box. A foot further on and it could have been a penalty.
He was guilty of not tracking his runners on other occasions too. And on another day it could have cost France. But tracking your runner every time against a team so fluid as Germany is no one’s idea of a walk in the park. Jose Mourinho will, no doubt, attempt to instil some defensive rigour into him should the transfer come off. But, let all football lovers hope, not too much. It is at the other end of the pitch that we want to see Pogba.