French star Paul Pogba has spent all of his career at Manchester United and Juventus, but has had a decidedly better time in Italy. Upon his return in 2016, Pogba looked set to lead United back to former glories after a sparse spell since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club. Yet after six years, the most prominent emotion during his second spell in Manchester has to be frustration.
His return to Serie A was confirmed on Monday and the following day Pogba was officially presented to his adoring fans in Turin.
Part of the process is giving a press conference however and inevitably, his time at United came up before too long. Asked where it all went wrong, talkSPORT reported his answer.
“It’s true that I was injured sometimes. It was a bit of everything. Coach, team, change of roles, these things blocked me a little.”
“Now, it’s another Paul, another Pogba and hopefully, I won’t have many injuries, I’ll feel well and play in my role, doing better than in the last seasons.”
That said he was keen to point out that he had no regrets about returning to Old Trafford.
? "Other teams also wanted me, but it was my heart that chose Juve."
? "Even when I was at United I talked a lot with Allegri, I always had a good relationship."
Paul Pogba speaking for the first time since being announced as a Juventus player pic.twitter.com/GfhVnwZ37D
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 12, 2022
His first answer perhaps reveals the most about his failure to live up to his billing in Manchester though. The problem was as much to do with United as it was Pogba, with a consistent lack of direction making it hard for most players to perform to their maximum.