Pogba’s self-absorption is a recipe for ‘mayhem’
Actions of midfielder suggest he is entering the downing-tools phase in a broken United relationship
As vultures hover over the haunted figure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Paul Pogba, Manchester United’s professional malcontent of a midfielder, somehow escapes the censure he deserves.
For all that inquisitions into the club’s implosion against Liverpool alight on the manager’s tactical naivety, we are perhaps missing the true villain of the piece, the man who, within 15 minutes of his introduction at half-time, contrived to be sent off for a spiteful lunge on Naby Keita. Five years on from his
£89 million return, he remains the club’s record signing, and yet his Premier League contributions so far this season read: zero goals, four bookings, one red card.
At one level, Pogba is disinclined to exert himself in the knowledge that he is out of contract next summer. But viewed less indulgently, he is emblematic of the extraordinary vortex of talent that Old Trafford has become. Pogba appears a pitiful imitation of the master who electrified the 2018 World Cup final for France. Once, wearing the red shirt of United was perceived as a signal honour, to be repaid with unstinting effort. Pogba, who appears these days to be motivated less by club pride than petty vengeance, makes it look like an encumbrance.
Paul Scholes, who knows what it means to galvanise United’s central midfield, has clearly seen enough. Having shown such clairvoyance in predicting that his team would be four goals down to Liverpool at half-time, he reserved particular disdain for Pogba. “If Ole’s still the manager there, will we still see Pogba in a United shirt?” he asked, also expressing disgust for the tackle that took out Keita. “He has caused mayhem over the past couple of years. With all the commotion, not signing his contract, almost holding the club to ransom, he then comes on and does something like that. That’s disrespect for your manager and your teammates.”
The confounding element of the Pogba conundrum is that his second United spell has not been without its high points. He scored in the Europa Cup final victory over Ajax in 2017, and provided four assists in United’s opening 5-1 win over Leeds in August. But he created more goals that Saturday than he had in either of his two previous Premier League campaigns. For a player who broke the world transfer record when he rejoined from Juventus, he has been unforgivably inconsistent.
There is one optimistic school of thought that Pogba could yet be rejuvenated if he finds himself reunited with Antonio Conte. He is far from subtle in communicating his lack of faith in a manager: he infuriated Jose Mourinho so much that the two had a televised training-ground flare-up, while his actions now suggest he is entering the downing-tools phase under Solskjaer. With Conte, the dynamic was different. While together in Turin, they steered Juventus to 102 points for the 2013-14 season, still a European record. During this period Pogba sealed his transformation from teenage sensation to global icon, scoring nine goals and setting up 16 more, while Conte structured his entire attacking system around him.
Ultimately, he is too temperamental to deserve the benefit of the doubt. True, he produced great feats under Conte seven years ago, but at United he has made his name less as a midfield sorcerer than a tiresome agitator. Barely a season has gone by without some threat by Pogba and Mino Raiola, his agent, that he will be scuttling off to Real Madrid or Barcelona if his every wish is not granted.
It has, as Scholes observes, been a recipe for “mayhem”, with Raiola’s antics justifying the contempt that Sir Alex Ferguson long harboured for the Italian super-agent. This time, United should feel emboldened to cut their losses. Pogba’s disgraceful 15-minute cameo on Sunday encapsulated a figure who is more trouble than he is worth. By leaving him on the bench for games against Everton and Liverpool, Solskjaer has conveyed a message that this selfabsorbed player is no longer helping the collective cause.
The relationship is irrevocably broken. Having already consigned him to the periphery, United would be well advised to freeze Pogba out
altogether.
At United he has made his name less as a midfield sorcerer than as a tiresome agitator