Pogba opens up on Man Utd ‘mistake’
Paul Pogba is determined to prove his worth after leaving Manchester United for a second time, and says that he wants to show his (now) former club that they made a critical error in opting to not offer their record signing a new contract.
The 29-year-old will formally leave the Red Devils upon the expiration of his existing deal on June 30 and is widely expected to make a return to Italy with Juventus - the team who also signed him on a free transfer when Pogba first left Manchester United in 2012.
United appeared to admit their mistake in allowing the preciously talented playmaker when they finalized a £89 million ($110 million) move to bring him back to the club in 2016 - but the World Cup winner largely flattered to deceive at Old Trafford and ended his second stint at the club as little more than a bit-part player in the catastrophic Ralf Rangnick regime.
But Pogba, 29, still appears to be his own biggest fan and in a new Amazon Prime film entitled 'The Pogmentary', he claims that Man United made a fatal error in overseeing his second exit from the Premier League giants.
“My thought process is to show Manchester (United) that they made a mistake in waiting to give me a contract,” he says in the documentary.
“And to show other clubs that Manchester had made a mistake in not offering me a contract.”
However, it has been claimed that the club made two offers to Pogba, both of which would have increased his reported £290,000-per-week wages and would have made him one of the best paid players in English football.
Pogba, though, disputes the offers, the most recent of which came last July.
“How can you tell a player you absolutely want him and offer him nothing?” Pogba says in the film. “Never seen that.”
Pogba's return to Manchester United was hailed as being the missing piece which would restore the club's reputation and hasten more Premier League winners' medals but his second spell only saw the club win a Europa League and a League Cup.
He did, however, win the World Cup with France in 2018 - something which fueled speculation that Pogba made more of an effort in international football compared the club game.
“We must try to make you feel as good as when you are with the French national team,” his late agent Mino Raiola adds in the documentary.
“You’re different with them. You understand? You’re another Pogba with the Manchester United team. It’s not normal.
“With the France team, you’re the real Pogba, the Pogba of Juventus, the Pogba that everyone loves. With Manchester, there’s something blocking you.”