Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Pogba won't be sold in January
Tuesday 7 January 2020 10:23, UK
Paul Pogba may be out injured but he remains the centre of attention at Manchester United - and on Sunday Supplement his future and the work of his agent Mino Raiola was examined.
The France midfielder is currently sidelined with an ankle problem but made headlines ahead of United's FA Cup draw with Wolves when his agent Raiola followed an interview with Sky Sports News, in which he said Pogba is happy at the club, by telling Italian media he would not send any of his other clients to Old Trafford.
Jason Burt, the chief football correspondent at the Telegraph, sat down with Raiola at the end of last year and got a rare insight into how the super-agent operates. Burt believes that, despite the large sums Raiola makes from player transfers, he has Pogba's best interests at heart - although Raiola isn't convinced a return to United was the best move for midfielder in the first place.
"What was interesting was this perception that he's just in it for the money," said Burt. "Obviously he's made an awful lot of money out of the game and out of the deals he's done with his clients but what I would say is that he came across as someone who really did care about his players.
"The way he spoke about Pogba, he was very clear in the way he thought Pogba's career should develop. He wasn't sure about him going back to Manchester United in the first place but he said 'the player wants to go there, he wants to go back' and he said 'he felt it was like going home'.
"Now he thinks possibly part of the problem at Manchester United isn't Paul Pogba or Manchester United, it's not the right fit for both of them. Why did they buy him in the first place, did they really need him? He talked about the lack of identity at Manchester United."
Darren Lewis, football writer at the Mirror, echoed Raiola's suggestion that Pogba and Manchester United have proved to not be a good fit and argued that many top-class players would struggle to shine in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's current side.
"Lots of people see Pogba as the problem, the scapegoat but some of their worst performances this season have come without him in the team and he's not been there to pin the blame on," said Lewis.
"If you look at the France side he won the World Cup with, he was surrounded by quality. The Juventus side he won the league with and got to the Champions League final with, he was surrounded by quality.
"This is an average Manchester United side. You can't trust them from one game to the next.
"Pogba is being blamed for many of the problems at the club and maybe he's better off out of there. At the moment you can bring any number of marquee players to Manchester United and they'd struggle, because of the problems that are at the club."
Dominic King, the Daily Mail's northern football reporter, also thinks Pogba's future lies away from Old Trafford - and says it may even come as a relief when he does go.
"It's almost getting to the point where it's distracting for him to be there," said King. "You could see Solskjaer's reaction on Friday when the question came in; he tries to keep a level head but you saw the flicker in him where he puffed the cheeks.
"The longer Pogba stays the more he's going to be discussed. I remember it at Liverpool with Luis Suarez. It gets to the point where no matter how good the player is he can become too heavy, oppressive. And you have to make the clean break."
"They should have sold him last summer," added Burt. "Why did they hold on to him? Obviously they wanted their valuation met but they should have just done the deal and cut him loose. That's a sign of strength.
"They saw it as a sign of strength to keep hold of Paul Pogba. But if he's not going to be the player they want him to be or they can't fit him in, they should cut him loose and let him go."
