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Paul Pogba back to United?

No

Yuveer Madanlal
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19/11/2024
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3 min read

Absolutely NOT!

I don't want him back, if I didn't make that clear.

This isn't because I don't rate Pogba, he's actually one of the most complete midfielders of this generation when you think about it.

But with him comes a lot of baggage. Like, a hell of a lot. Like, a ton. Like, bro requires a whole plane for his baggage.

When all of this about Pogba potentially training at Carrington came out, I couldn't (and still can't) understand why there are so many people who want this to happen. Did they forget how badly it went with him? And if he did happen to come back, it would be his THIRD time at the club.

Just imagine a career where you've been back and forth between two clubs your whole life.

The problem with Pogba is not actually the quality but rather everything else.

He is much too inconsistent (he is the very definition of the 'on his day' player); he picks up a decent amount of injuries making him somewhat unreliable; he will most likely want a high wage which is not something the club want nor can afford to do (they've just hit the new manager with a 'modest budget' for crying out loud); and to top it all off I feel like the whole player power thing at the club started off when he was at the club (I'm not saying that he started it but it was during his second spell).

Pogba himself even wanted to leave the club a few years before he actually did.

The Daily Mail reported that Pogba said "The year Jose Mourinho went and Ole came, it was my best season at Man Utd..."

"But after the last game, I told Ole and Ed Woodward that I thought it was my last yearand that I wanted to leave."

Saying that the year Mourinho was sacked and Ole came in was his best year means that it was 18/19. Saying that he wanted to leave after the last game means that he wanted to leave at the end of that season.

Paul Pogba in his final season at Man Utd (21/22) | Image credit: Getty Images via Eurosport

Pogba only left after the 21/22 season ended, meaning he spent a further three seasons at the club before his second departure. This makes me think that perhaps he won't want to come back to United even if to train.

However, before anyone gets too excited about the now 31-year-old potentially training at Carrington, Ben Jacobs says that he's been told that there are "no plans in place for Paul Pgba to train at Carrington."

Fabrizio Romano on YouTube also just said that "Manchester United sources deny having any contact with Paul Pogba about bringing him back" via mufcMPB.

I feel that if he came back even just to train, he could influence some of the players because he does have quite a pull. His personality and character is something that I think a lot of people/players would like but given his past, isn't one that I would recommend our squad follow.

So all of this shows that there are more reasons to not do this rather than to do it.

Again, I do like Pogba and rate him but he is the past, we need to move on and the direction we're moving in is away from the Pogbas of this world. This is specific to one player but can be something we say about a lot of our players from the past.

At 31, he is also no young man and if he couldn't consistently perform in his prime, there's no chance he's going to do it now.

He also had that ban of 18 months for testing positive for testosterone via dehydroepiandrosterone. That is another reason to not bring him. Plus we know that he has a bit of family drama with one of his brothers giving more reason to say no to this deal.

We also have quite a few midfielders and while it is being reported (UtdDistrict) that Ruben Amorim wants to bring in new midfielders that better suit his 3-4-3, I doubt that it is an inconsistent, injury prone, 31-year-old who has previous with the club and a lot of baggage.

Background Image: Paul Pogba at Man Utd (20/21) | Image credit: Getty Images via Eurosport

Yuveer Madanlal

Yeah, I can talk and talk and talk about the things I love, like football and United, as you can see in this post. Once I get on a roll, it's pretty hard to stop me. This is all coming from a guy who doesn't talk that much. How weird.

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