THEY THINK IT’S PAUL OVER...
...it is now as Pogba signs off with Jesus comparison
FOR someone capable of oozing such class as a player, Paul Pogba’s latest exit from Manchester United has been distinctly lacking in that quality.
While Juan Mata said goodbye to United this summer with a classy video message befitting such a fine figure, Pogba’s departure has centred on settling scores and painting himself as wronged.
Pogba does just that in an Amazon Prime documentary, absurdly and conceitedly entitled The Pogmentary, which attempts to provide some understanding of the enigmatic France midfielder.
In it, Pobga – a free agent on June 30 – takes aim at United, for failing to “seduce” him with a big enough contract offer and accuses them of failing him – rather than the other way round.
Now 29, Pogba returned to United from Juventus six years ago for a club record fee of £89m, for what should have been the prime years of his career.
He leaves having won just the Europa League and League Cup, a meagre return for a player who cost United a total outlay of £180m for what amounted to an underwhelming spell.
Of course, Pogba was a World Cup winner with France in 2018, but the brutal reality is that when wearing a United shirt, he was never able to reproduce the form he showed for his country.
He and his camp blame United for not getting the best out of him, while those on the other side of the debate point to the player’s lack of motivation in his second spell at Old Trafford.
There is also the question of Pogba the brand, and how much he can monetise his image off the pitch, being more important to him and his representatives than what he can achieve on it.
That much is evident in one scene in the film, where Pogba’s former agent Mino Raiola, who died in April, is speaking to his client on the phone about the player’s future.
“What is the best for you?” says Raiola. “What is the best for your family, for your career? What is the best economically? What is the best for your brand?
Pogba himself goes a step further, comparing himself to Jesus, in an egomaniacal segment of the film where he is discussing his perception by others.
“As long as my players and my family are happy, I don’t care if the others aren’t,” said Pogba. “Even Jesus wasn’t unanimously rejected, they still crucified him.”
The notion of Pogba the brand being more important than Pogba the player is reinforced in another scene, where he is chatting to former France team-mate Blaise Matuidi.
“You have to use your image,” Pogba tells Matuidi.
“The Americans get it. They got it long ago. Your image is your value. Use your image, use your value. You created it.”
Rafaela Pimenta, Raiola’s lawyer, who is now looking after Pogba, was more blunt.
“Pogba is something we built,” she says. “It’s a brand. It has emojis, it has Pogmojis, it has cups. He has shows, he has haircuts and we hope to entertain people with that.”
Pogba’s fractious relationship with former United boss Jose Mourinho (inset) is touched upon, while in another scene he claims that United “didn’t help” and “didn’t show care” about how he was feeling after an injury. Injuries undoubtedly blighted Pogba’s second spell at United, where he played just 62 league games in his final three seasons at the club.
For all the talk of feeling undervalued, Pogba could simply not be relied upon at United, his second coming ultimately one of the biggest mistakes in the club’s history.
No amount of spin in a one-sided documentary can change that fact.