As disappointing as his club in the Premier League, Paul Pogba is leaving Manchester United, the club announced on Wednesday. The 2018 world champion, at the end of his contract, leaves for free and discreetly after an arrival with great fanfare in 2016. If Paris SG has been mentioned, it is from Italy that the most affirmative information comes on its future destination. The press evokes a return to Juventus Turin, the team where he lived his best years in club (2012-2016).
The history between the 2018 world champion, aged 29, and the Red Devils will have been eventful and not completely accomplished, marked in 2016 by a record transfer fee at the time (105 million euros), a few trophies like the Europa League 2017, but also injuries, misunderstandings and a few whistles.
In a statement, the Red Devils formalized the departure of “Manchester United at the end of June, when his contract expires”. According to Italian media, Pogba has agreed to return to Juve and agreed to lower his salary to find the “Old Lady”, with whom he notably won four league titles and played in a Champions League final.
La Gazzetta dello Sport raises the possibility that the Frenchman will use the June 17 release of a documentary dedicated to him (Pogmentary) on Amazon Prime Video to formalize his decision.
In the meantime, it’s a departure through the back door for “La Pioche”, a player steeped in talent but too inconstant in the eyes of Manchester United supporters, where the former Le Havre had finished his training before starting his professional career in 2011-2012. He returned to gold in 2016, after exploding at the highest level at Juve.
Injured in a calf at the end of April, Pogba could not even say goodbye on the ground to the public of Old Trafford, since the injury ended his season with the club. “In the recovery phase”, according to coach Didier Deschamps, he was not called up with the Blues in early June for the League of Nations.
The last few months in Manchester have therefore been difficult for the Frenchman, whistled and insulted by part of the Old Trafford public during a match against Norwich, then injured for his last months of contract. “Paul had a complicated season with injuries and results that did not live up to his club’s expectations. He is one of the players who have to change air and club, ”summarized Deschamps on Saturday.
The star of the French environment declined at the same time as that of his club, unable to return to the level of the mastodons Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City. On his Mancunian record, Pogba only has one League Cup and one Europa League, two trophies won in 2017. “You have to be honest, that doesn’t satisfy me, but really not at all,” he said in March in an interview with Le Figaro.
In club, he largely disappointed and irritated English supporters, with often mediocre performances, far from those he presented in the France team, and his repeated desires to look elsewhere. Off the field, the spring was also difficult with a burglary during a match, with his children present at home, and the death in April of his agent Mino Raiola.
At 29, however, he has no shortage of courtiers. Unstoppable in the France team, the native of Lagny-sur-Marne will have to make the right choice this summer to fly away with a smile on his face, in mid-November, towards Qatar, where the Blues hope to remain masters of the World Cup. Pogba’s situation “may not be the same in October”, hoped Deschamps. For executives like him, “there is always a credit for what they have been able to do in the France team over time, compared to the competition of the moment too. It’s a framework, this experience is important, but on condition of being at a good level, “he warned.
