Man United: Pogba and Mourinho’s legacies intertwined and not fond
Pogba is not ready to captain the team
Though the jury may be out on who is more to blame for this ugly situation, Mourinho did get one thing right. Stripping Paul Pogba of the vice-captaincy was completely valid.
Pogba may have had a point when he said that he wanted United to “attack, attack, attack” following the game against Wolves, but that was not a conversation that he should have had with the media. It is something that he should have brought up with Mourinho and the coaching staff in private.
It’s also not the first time this season that Pogba has undermined United in the press. There has been his constant flirting with Barcelona, something that cannot be sitting well with his teammates.
Having cost United £89 million when he re-signed from Juventus, Pogba has not looked like he was worth the princely sum that was paid.
He has been frustratingly inconsistent, veering from pinpoint, majestic, cross-field switches to misplaced 5-yard sideways passes that should be instinctive for a player of his calibre. He has regularly failed to show up against the best teams and for every half like the one he had against City, he will have three games like the one he had in the 0-0 draw against Liverpool.
Pogba seems to come across as a man in love with his own brand, looking out for himself, egged on by his agent, Mino Raiola. When he initially left United at 19, Sir Alex Ferguson pointedly indicated that he was a player that Raiola had great influence over.
The fact that Raiola came out and criticised United legend Paul Scholes on Twitter after the Englishman had some (justifiably) harsh words for Pogba, shows that the relationship between agent and player is just as good as ever. Raiola would love for his client to move to Barca, netting him a hefty windfall in agent fees.
Some people need to talk for fear of being forgotten. Paul Scholes wouldn’t recognize a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill. @paulpogba
— RAIOLA (@MinoRaiola) August 21, 2018
This is not a man that is ready for the captaincy. Pogba has not justified his transfer fee or his place in the side. At this point, he is probably not worth the headaches he is causing, particularly as a video leaked by Sky Sports showed that he and Mourinho were now at odds on the training pitch too.