[ad_1]
When people talk about Paul Pogba leaving Manchester United in the summer of 2012, Sir Alex Ferguson’s dislike of the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, often comes up.
A ‘sack of shit’, Ferguson called him once.
Less discussed is what happened the season before Pogba left for Juventus, and indeed the season after.
Paul Pogba has fallen short of expectations since his £ 89m transfer to Man United
In the 2011-12 campaign, United won the title on the final day against Manchester City. It was a tumultuous Premier League season and Pogba’s contribution totaled 67 minutes, won in three substitute appearances.
The following year, Pogba played for Juventus. Earning considerably more money in Turin, Pogba made 27 Serie A appearances, played in the Champions League for the first time and won his first French call-up. Juventus also won the league.
So overall it was a decent move and it’s one that Raiola orchestrated. United didn’t like it and Ferguson in particular blamed the agent for turning Pogba’s face to a different horizon. “A bad agent” was how he later described it.
No one knows what would have happened if Pogba had stayed at Old Trafford. It may have been successful, it may have made a difference. Similarly, he may have been caught up in the cycle and chaos of disappointment and bad football that followed Ferguson’s decision to follow Pogba to the gate just a year later, in 2013.
The Frenchman may be dating now after failing to shine in his four and a half years
What is beyond conjecture is that Pogba’s years at Juventus were successful. He won four Leagues, two Italian Cups and played a Champions League final. During those four years, Pogba went from boy to man and became a big enough star that United paid him handsomely to come back.
Since then, of course, things have not gone so well.
Time spent away from United never seems to hurt Pogba much. He won the World Cup two and a half years ago and scored in the final. His endorsement deals are huge and he continues to be a global star name. The problem has been United football and their inability to turn it around on their own.
So now it looks like Pogba will be leaving again, possibly back to Italy, and again Raiola is to blame.
Raiola’s suggestion to the Italian press last week that Pogba’s United career “is over” was poorly timed.
And hopefully the World Cup winner will be a huge success wherever he decides to go.
United were about to play an important Champions League game that they soon lost.
But perhaps Raiola was simply fed up, like so many other people, of the endless and relentless drift that seems to consume modern United.
Pogba is 28 years old in March, which means these are his peak years. United, first with José Mourinho at the helm and now under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, have had four and a half seasons to find a solution to Pogba’s problem, to build a midfield around the Frenchman or at least get something out of it. getting closer to the best of him.
It is a project that has not gone anywhere.
When he first left United, Pogba triumphed at Juventus, where he became a global superstar.
Raiola clearly believes that now is the time to move the ground under United’s feet, for something to happen. Anyone who thinks this is not being done with Pogba’s blessing is desperately naive.
Last week there were calls for Pogba to publicly repudiate and contradict his agent. That idea is ridiculous. Because I would do?
Pogba appears to be leaving United for the second time. Most likely you will be successful elsewhere a second time.
Mino Raiola will organize this. He will set the mood and then make the deal. That is your job.
A bad agent? I’m not sure Paul Pogba sees it that way.
Frank agent Mino Raiola announced that Pogba will soon leave Old Trafford
Insipid City lacks the magic of Silva’s midfield
David Silva has been the most important player of the Abu Dhabi era at Manchester City and Pep Guardiola’s team misses him this season.
With Silva on the field on Saturday, there would have been more room for Kevin De Bruyne, more opportunities created for Gabriel Jesus. Players like Silva influence games just by being on the field.
With his departure marked long before the end of last season, it was suggested that Bernardo Silva or Phil Foden would fill the void left by the Spaniard.
During a thoroughly dismal Manchester derby, none of the players went further than the substitute bench. It seems that some shoes are too big to fill.
Man City’s 0-0 draw with United highlighted how much they miss former star David Silva
Celtic seat is too hot for Lennon
Six years ago I sat down with Neil Lennon when he was a manager at Bolton.
Lennon is an intriguing, passionate and outgoing character, very open when in the mood.
That day he spoke about the difficulties of managing Celtic and the price it cost his mental health.
“It wears you out in the end, chaos and madness,” Lennon said.
Celtic’s managerial position is once again proving too hot a seat for manager Neil Lennon
“When I was younger I could have the energy and courage to overcome it, when I took bullets in the post and all that.
“But you go through a mountain of emotions and it’s not normal.”
In February 2019, Lennon returned to Parkhead for another shot.
I always wondered why he did it, and with Celtic working 13 points behind the Rangers, I’m still wondering now.
Chelsea is still very interested in Rice
West Ham’s impressive progress under David Moyes continues, but so does Chelsea’s interest in Declan Rice. Hopefully Moyes has a life plan without the England midfielder as it feels like that day is coming.
