Opinion: Paul Pogba HAS To Leave United

‘Paul Pogba should leave Manchester United!’ is an opinion the majority of Manchester United fans share. If his agent Mino Raiola’s comments are anything to go by, it is also an opinion shared by members of the Paul Pogba camp.

During the comeback win against West Ham over the weekend, we saw the classic performance of two halves by Paul Pogba; woeful, couldn’t string a pass together, 3/10 in the first half (like some of his teammates mind you), followed by a second half of grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, defending for his team and providing a wonder strike from 25 yards that kickstarted the United come back and saw his team maintain a club record of 9 wins in a row on the road in the Premier League. This puzzling inconsistency is something United fans are all too familiar with during Pogba’s time with the club.

Just 2 days after said game against West Ham and on the Eve of arguably United’s most important 2 games of the season so far against RB Leipzig in the Champions League and a Manchester Derby at the weekend, Pogba’s agent decides to add to the already hefty timeline of unacceptable comments that have been spewed by various people of the Paul Pogba camp over the years. Mino Riaola said in his latest comments about his client and I quote:
“Paul is unhappy. He is no longer able to express himself as he would like and expected of him. He has a contract that will expire in a year and a half, but I think the best solution for both parties is to sell him in the next market.”

Riaola continued to say it is not Paul Pogba’s intention to extend his contract and that “He has to change teams; he has to change the air.”

As already mentioned, Pogba has a timeline stretching back to not long after he joined Manchester United in the 2016/17 season, expressing his desire on multiple occasions to play for Real Madrid and that ‘It would be a dream’ to play for the Spanish giants one day. In 2018, Paul was quoted “We’ll see how it goes. I’ll try and give my best for the fans but you want United to show things on the pitch.”

September, the same year; “My future is currently in Manchester, I still have a contract. I’m playing there at the moment. We will see what happens in the next few months.”

There are more quotes that have come out of Mino Raiola alone this year than characters I am allowed to write this article with, such as accusing Manchester United of ‘ruining players’ and would ruin the likes of Maradona, Pele and Maldini and that he would never bring another player here. “Pogba’s problem is with the club of Manchester, it’s a club out of reality without a sports project.”
“Paul wants to play at the heights of football but can’t escape Manchester United right now. Maybe this is something that can be spoken about after the 2020 Euros.”

Even as recent as October this year whilst on International duty with France, Pogba himself expressed it would ‘Be a dream one day’ to play for Real Madrid. He then went on to say “I love Manchester, I love my club. I’m playing for Manchester and I’m having fun. I’ll give everything to the max like my teammates” which after the former comments, comes across merely as an after-thought.

Some fans and football journalists have used a language barrier as an excuse for Pogba’s most recent comments. Pogba is fluent in 4 languages and is considered one of the most intelligent individuals in the United dressing room. A language barrier sounds like a sorry excuse to protect Pogba’s quotes until he is tired of holding United to ransom and finally moves on.

Others go on to stick up for Pogba and say most of the comments have come from his agent and not Pogba, but anything that comes out of Riaola’s mouth must get the approval of Pogba before being released in the wild for everyone to hear, surely?

Paul Pogba has been rightly given the opportunity to prove himself for this football club many times. There IS a world class player in Pogba on his day which does not come around too often, but it seems his weak mentality and negligence towards his current payers could end in the result of a Paul Pogba move next summer, or maybe in the January transfer window.

Comments about how uhnappy Paul Pogba is or how he would like to play somewhere else one day is constant. Manchester United have parted with much bigger names and much better players in the past when they were seen to be getting ‘too big for their boots’. Pogba has long surpassed that in many United’s fans eyes and when you have players such as Bruno Fernandes that have come to the club in the January transfer window for nearly half of what Pogba did, leading and commanding the team from midfield, creating more chances and level on assists with Kevin De Bruyne since making his debut for the club, it only makes Pogba’s image look worse and strengthens the point that a new club could well be the best thing for both Paul Pogba and Manchester United.

What do you think? Do you think Pogba’s time at United is done or does he deserve another chance? Or has what has been said been blown out of proportion and seems exaggerated? Get your thoughts in below and join the discussion.