It must be a difficult call when you are a young kid at a club like ours - stay and work your way up like Lingard did or move to another club if the opportunities seem slim. Look at the difference between them now and it is hard to argue that Pogba didn't make the right call. Lingard has made an impressive, if faltering, start to a career in the first team - but even after learning his trade with us all these years, is he the best in that position - no. If a better option were available would we sign them, I would argue yes. You simply can't say that about Pogba. With his time at Juve under his belt he has leap-frogged massively in terms of where he might still be had he stayed with us, particularly as SAF didn't want to play him even when we were desperate for midfield talent. Is he now the best in that position - quite possibly, however, the argument against signing him is that there are plenty of top quality midfield players already at the club and available on the transfer market. Nobody has been able to pinpoint exactly what makes Pogba value at £100 against any other player. It is interesting that the original post was questioning his value to the team at £70m - many thought the price too high even at that money. £100 for Pogba is insane, not simply the fee - I understand the general rise in fees over the recent years - but for this specific player? No way.
Scholes was better than Pogba. At that time, he was. I trust Ferguson's assessment of Pogba at that time good deal more than I trust Pogba's assessment of himself. He chose to leave. He did. No one forced him to leave or deemed him not good enough.
Even the best managers make mistakes. Nobody is perfect, Jose sold De Bruyne, and two seasons later his value had tripled and he was twice the player, these things just happen sometimes. Also you can never predict whether the players in question would have blossomed into the players they became had they stayed at their original club.
In what way did Ferguson make a mistake? In the season after Scholes came out of retirement and Pogba left we won the league. Who knows how Pogba would have turned out but, as I've already said, no one forced him to leave so no mistake was actually made.
Well its all hypothetical, you could argue that he made a mistake in not giving the kid a chance. Same with Jose and De Bruyne, the season after De Bruyne left Chelsea also won the league. But like we both pointed out, there is no way of knowing if De Bruyne and Pogba would have become the players they became had they stayed at Chelsea and United respectively.
The difference being Mourinho sold De Bruyne whereas Pogba left of his own according on a free having not accepted a new contract or the fact he should maybe wait for his place in the team.
This is pretty much the better perspective on past and present with regards to Pogba. I sincerely think that had Pogba actually stayed with us, I very much doubt that he would be the player that it is today. The outcome would different given team around him at Juve was far superior than what we had here when Fergie left. Who would he learn from, Cleverley? Thus, I don't see the point in wasting time talking about how he left for free at 18. It happens to most kids at that age and completely immaterial if he is indeed a world class player that we need today. I mean, look at all the promising kids we had, what happened of them?- Januzaj is a prime example. Fact of the matter is that most of our kids since class of 92 never quite developed into global stars. Yes, the ones that joined us for set fee tend to do better because they get a chance in the first team and already have certain level of expectation placed upon them. These are factors that we need to remember when dabbling into what happened 4 years ago. Had Pogba stayed, he may have turned out to be slight better version of Lingard.
Pogba on... Telling Sir Alex he wanted to leave “He's a coach I respect a lot. But he's a human. I'm someone who says what he thinks. Whether it's Ferguson or Obama, I'll tell him. Ferguson came to my place. We talked. It did make me think. He wanted to keep me, but I'd made my decision to leave.” Must try harder
It must just be pure coincidence that Pogba is on an extended break in Miami at the exact same time as RM begin their pre-season tour of the US. The next thing we will hear on this is that Pogba has passed his medical and has agreed personal terms to join RM. Good news for us - then we can go get Bonucci and Matuidi and still have enough left over for a sandwich.
Tbh if we're going for a DM I would rather Carvalho, who's reportedly available for the same as Matuidi. Hopefully our past relationship with Sporting could see us pull that one off.
I can't believe we haven't walked away from this **** yet, my only hope is that we are waiting to announce another deal (Matuidi?) before we tell Juve they need to speak to Madrid.
according to Sun now from Juv soruces, deal is agreed with a figure of £92m to juv and fkn £20m to Pogba's agent !!! making total cost of the deal £112m !!!! have to say though i rather have Pogba over 29 yo Matuidi, Matuidi is just too old for me, and money been asked is rediclous for a player who gonna be 30 yo next season
The deal is now £92m+£8m addons + £20m agents fee+ £10m performance bonuses (ballon dor etc) = £130m and that's even before any wages + rights being paid to the player : £25m per year. This is getting unreal by the hour. This may well destroy any semblance of team unity. Is it worth the rusk even he is really good? Jose must pull the plug before it's too late.
I am all for using our financial power but we've got to use it wisely. Being taken for mugs is not what's it all about. United are like Real Madrid on steroids. Whatever extravagance they did we are now doing x 10.
If nothing else, this whole sorry and protracted saga serves to prove that the club desperately needs someone with the nous and the clout to focus solely on transfer dealings. Woodward seems to get pulled from pillar to post trying to find a new official pork scratching supplier or loo brush sponsor only to have to dash off to China for a photo-shoot with the GG's. You cannot be good at both, and while I credit him with being a class act in terms of bringing in the sponsorship money, I can't help but think that many of our transfer delays are caused, in great part, to his other commitments. We need someone in to chase down the targets and their agents and get these things done with greater urgency than seems the case at present. Sure, let Woody sign off on the deal, but he has proved too many times over these last few years that you can't be good at both jobs. Stick to what you are good at and get someone in to specifically deal with transfers, someone with substance and clout - like Gill had.
