AUTHOR: – Doron
You’d be hard pushed to find a signing at youth level who’s made such a positive impact at the club. He joined United under controversial circumstances but in 18 months has shown glimpses of an incredible talent. So much so that he’s recently been given a first team squad number. Introducing, Paul Pogba…
Name – Paul Pogba
Age – 18 (15/3/1993)
Nationality – French – born in Lagny Sur Marne
Squad number – 42
Background – Paul joined United in October 2009 aged 16 from French team Le Havre. United were heavily criticised by the French team and were accused of illegally poaching the player. This will be covered later. His first season with the club was successful as he made a big impact at Academy level, playing 22 times and scoring 7 goals. Such was the impression he made that he even appeared on 5 occasion for the Reserves, scoring once. Aged just 14 he played for France’s U16 side and would later captain them – so far he’s played at every age group internationally that he’s eligible for. Pogba suffered a bad knee injury whilst on duty with the French U17 team last summer and missed the start of this season – he returned quicker than expected as he went to Nike in America with Rooney for special treatment.
Position – He is a central midfielder that is comfortable both in defence and attack. He possesses a wide range of abilities but is yet to be trialled in any other position.
Strengths – The biggest strength Pogba has is his ability to dominate a midfield. He has supreme confidence in himself and always demands the ball. For someone so tall and at present, lanky, he has tremendous close ball control and skill. He’s equally good at using the ball and is very adept and picking the right passes, particularly key through balls. What makes him all the more difficult to play against is that he enjoys shooting from distance – a quick shuffle of the feet to buy some space and with little back-lift he can launch a rocket towards goal. All-round he’s incredibly complete on the technical side of the game. Equally as impressive though is how good he is on the mental side – no fear, intelligence and calmness put him at the top of the list when looking at central midfielders his age at the club and arguably in the country.
Weaknesses – There don’t seem to be too many areas to Pogba’s game that need improving. Being picky one could suggest the when defending he needs to get rid of the ball quicker, he’s so confident in his abilities that he’ll often try and run the ball out of trouble. What’s true is that he needs to bulk up some more. He is starting to broaden out but due to his height he still looks very lanky. There has been questions over his stamina too but since returning from injury he appears to have solved that issue. One could also be critical of his positioning – he tends to rely on his skill to get him out of trouble when actually taking up a slightly different position wouldn’t have him in trouble in the first place; certainly in a 4-3-3 he’s been found wanting before.
Player comparison – Given where he’s from, his position and his physique, Vieira and Diaby are common comparisons. He offers much more going forward than Vieira though and is incredibly more consistent and unselfish than Diaby. It’s therefore hard to find a direct comparison as he has facets of his game from various players, e.g. in possession he’s as cool and composed as Scholes.
Bizarre Fact – Rather than a bizarre fact, it’s worth explaining the controversy surrounding Pogba’s move to United and a bit about how he was discovered. Pogba was spotted aged 13 playing on a concrete football pitch close to his home with friends by one of Le Havre’s scouts. It was the same place that Charles N’Zogbia had been found a few years before him. He was quickly recruited into the clubs academy and when it became clear that he was streaks ahead of anyone else he was made captain of the youth side for both club and country. The big French teams soon came sniffing as did United, Chelsea and Arsenal. According to his mother Le Havre made plenty of promises about having his interests at heart and would fast-track him into the first team but it became clear they merely wanted to make money off him. Pogba with some influence from his mother chose United over Chelsea and Arsenal. A Chelsea scout turned up with a wad of cash and said he could fix their money problems; two Arsenal scouts turned up to discuss a move; but for United, Ferguson himself went to their poor family home in Eastern Paris and discussed Pogba the player and how he could help him develop – he never once brought up money but showed a real interest in Pogba himself. His mother later said that it was that Ferguson visit that did the trick!
You can read about Pogba’s early youth career and international career here.
It was mid-May in 2009 that it was confirmed that Pogba was joining United. In early September after seeing Chelsea fall into problems because of Kakuta’s transfer to them from Lens, Le Havre issued a statement saying Untied had suspect morals but FIFA denied receiving any complaint over the transfer and United were not worried. Le Havre quickly started to make allegations about payments to family members but United stood firm. The dispute with Le Havre was somewhat hypocritical on their part as only a few years before, Le Havre “took” Pogba from Torcy without giving them any compensation. In October, 2009, FIFA ruled that Le Havre had no case and that the player could join United. It wasn’t until June 2010 that a financial agreement between United and Le Havre was finally agreed.
Video evidence:
Prediction – It’s a bold statement to make on my behalf but of all the players in the Academy in the past few years, he’s the best. I have to admit that I’d be surprised if he didn’t make it at United. However, arguably he has the most of all the ‘prospects’ still to learn given the role he tends to play. He’s just been given a squad number and was on the bench for the FA Cup tie against Crawley Town. The next 12-18 months should see him despite his young age start to push into the first team squad. He is a super talented player who really should have a top career ahead of him.
AUTHOR: – Doron
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