According to a recent article in the Daily Mail, Sir Alex Ferguson has all but reached the end of his tether when it comes to French prodigy Paul Pogba. At the moment the 19-year-old is only tied down at Old Trafford until the end of the season with his Manchester United future very much up in the air.
Just a few weeks ago it looked almost certain that Pogba was off to join Juventus with his agent Milo Raiola ready to pocket £1.7m commission in exchange for his services (I don’t know if there’s any worse indictment on the state of the modern game than the fact that his agent would receive that incredible fee whilst Manchester United would earn a relatively miserly £300k).
Yet no move materialised and it looks as though Pogba is content to simply leave his options open and see what offers roll in. Juventus are still thought to be interested, whilst the young Frenchman has also found himself linked to Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan.
Ferguson seems to have tried everything he can do to make him stay with United. First he’s ingratiated him into the first-team squad by giving him 30 minutes of game time against Wolves and then he dropped him for the game against Fulham last week.
The belief is that Pogba rejected yet another request to sign a new contract and the furious Sir Alex Ferguson opted to make him play with the reserves. But Ferguson clearly hasn’t ruled out using him again in the first team this season as he returned to the bench for United’s Monday night game against Blackburn.
I for one am not sure why Sir Alex has adopted this inconsistent stance. Surely it’s time to decide one way or another – are you going to properly invest in Pogba (through game time) or are you ready to cut ties with a player who is clearly playing the field?
Ferguson is known for not taking any nonsense from players and by adhering to Pogba’s whims, he’s only weakening his own position. Truth is, no one’s bigger than the club – certainly not a 19-year-old who is yet to prove himself in the Premier League. He’s hardly irreplaceable.
Whilst he’s in the power position in terms of negotiations, his decision would affect United very little either way. Whilst Sir Alex is doubtless keen to keep hold of his best young talent, there’s no use pandering to their demands. Better young players will eventually make their way through the Academy (or arrive from overseas) many of whom will have better attitudes.
Now those are the kind of players United need to invest in.
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The last I heard was the Pogba was included on the Golf trip up in Scotland a week ago. In an effort to increase team bonding plus get him to finally sign.
With him again on the bench makes me feel that he will stay.
But who knows. The agent is going to be forcing him to move and will be in his ear about it all the time.
Rio was tasked with getting him to sign so we will see where the boys ambitions lay.
My guess is that both sides have agreed to leave the contract negotiations to the end of the season.
I think Pogba will stay. But he probably feels he’s been messed around a bit and wants to make sure that the club are serious about playing him in the first team before he commits his future to United. Sensible lad – you have to look out for yourself in this game.
play him more…he will stay eventually…