Paul Pogba - Free Agent | ban reduced - able to play competitively from March 2025

Maybe he can find a club in Dubai or Florida considering how much he spent his time there while with us when he wasn’t playing
 
Fortitude said:
Interesting that everyone thinks he'll be a crock. The enforced absence may well have given his body time to truly heal and repair. How it copes with professional duress is the toss up.

A player like him can get by without massive amounts of athleticism or mobility - I bet he's still faster, stronger and more mobile than Pirlo, for example. Whether he's worth building a team around is another question entirely.
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But he has always based his play around his athleticism. He is not someone like Mata.
 
Sir Erik ten Hag said:
But he has always based his play around his athleticism. He is not someone like Mata.
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He won a World Cup with the greatest economy of movement in his entire career. Deschamps got an exceptional level out of him without any overly complex actions or real need to perform in that way Pogba has been accused of at various times in his career.

Pogba doesn't need to take multiple touches or take on multiple men or be convoluted in his play to be extremely effective. It'd be up to a coach to get that into his head and have him stick to the fundamentals, which he has some massive spikes in certain elements, particularly his long passing and also his ease with being able to set the forward line off down either flank from the middle of the pitch.

Clubs will have to deliberate on whether his positives outweigh the negatives and whether this is a player they want to build a forte around, however. He also has to prove his body can withstand the intensity of professional football; he's either going to come back completely rejuvenated or his body will break down extremely quickly once he has to crank up to 100%, imo.
 
Fortitude said:
He won a World Cup with the greatest economy of movement in his entire career. Deschamps got an exceptional level out of him without any overly complex actions or real need to perform in that way Pogba has been accused of at various times in his career.

Pogba doesn't need to take multiple touches or take on multiple men or be convoluted in his play to be extremely effective. It'd be up to a coach to get that into his head and have him stick to the fundamentals, which he has some massive spikes in certain elements, particularly his long passing and also his ease with being able to set the forward line off down either flank from the middle of the pitch.

Clubs will have to deliberate on whether his positives outweigh the negatives and whether this is a player they want to build a forte around, however. He also has to prove his body can withstand the intensity of professional football; he's either going to come back completely rejuvenated or his body will break down extremely quickly once he has to crank up to 100%, imo.
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I've not caught Juventus this season but going off Bologna last term, I'm not really sure where Pogba fits into a Motta side. And he'll surely not get a move until the summer if he's still banned til March?

He could be good as a sort of attacking pivot, either up front or in the ten for Juve, but it would be something of a shock to see him come back and contribute effectively to an aggressive press. Although as I say, I don't actually know if that's what they're trying to do these days. It should be interesting anyway - he's a fun player to watch on his day.
 
didz said:
I've not caught Juventus this season but going off Bologna last term, I'm not really sure where Pogba fits into a Motta side. And he'll surely not get a move until the summer if he's still banned til March?

He could be good as a sort of attacking pivot, either up front or in the ten for Juve, but it would be something of a shock to see him come back and contribute effectively to an aggressive press. Although as I say, I don't actually know if that's what they're trying to do these days. It should be interesting anyway - he's a fun player to watch on his day.
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Ohh, I don’t think Pogba has it about him to press well, tbh. He doesn’t have the stamina, concentration or desire to mechanically graft, so if he’s asked to do that I think he’ll be accused of laziness etc. etc.

I was thinking of a deeper role with runners doing the heavy lifting ala France , but as I say, whether a team think he’s worth catering to is another matter.

The hustle and bustle higher up the pitch and the need for more short-burst acceleration to make pockets of space, mightn’t be prudent if he’s lost steps, but who knows; we’ll not see what his capacity is very late in the season anyway because he’ll effectively do a preseason camp in January and then work to match fitness for March, and even then, he has to get used to high octane, full-on matches, in the run-in, no less. That’s no easy task. Might not even be enough time to display his wares to other suitors if Juve want rid.
 
didz said:
He could be good as a sort of attacking pivot, either up front or in the ten for Juve, but it would be something of a shock to see him come back and contribute effectively to an aggressive press. Although as I say, I don't actually know if that's what they're trying to do these days. It should be interesting anyway - he's a fun player to watch on his day.
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Pogba and "press" do not belong to the same sentence.
 
Sir Erik ten Hag said:
Pogba and "press" do not belong to the same sentence.
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Yes they do. Example: Pogba is highly unlikely contribute effectively to an aggressive press.

To say they don't belong in the same sentence denies a quite a large portion of language.
 
Not suggesting we buy him back of course, but I, personally, am v v pleased by this news. I love the talent of this guy, he's a brilliant and unique player. I would love to see a fully fit, focused, Paul Pogba, playing for anyone.

Same with Neymar btw. Will it happen? Who knows.. but I hope so.
 
Sir Erik ten Hag said:
But he has always based his play around his athleticism. He is not someone like Mata.
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Mata would have been twice the player with athleticism. His lack of it was clearly holding him back, not something he excelled without.

Pirlo would be a better example.
 
B20 said:
Mata would have been twice the player with athleticism. His lack of it was clearly holding him back, not something he excelled without.

Pirlo would be a better example.
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We just completely misused Mata.
 
duffer said:
Is he still a Juventus player or did they sack him?
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He is still a Juventus player, but they were paying him the bare minimum and he wasn’t training with the team… he will get back his full salary when his ban is officially lifted in March. It seems they want to get rid of him and his wages in January…
 
Pintu said:
He is still a Juventus player, but they were paying him the bare minimum and he wasn’t training with the team… he will get back his full salary when his ban is officially lifted in March. It seems they want to get rid of him and his wages in January…
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Looking forward to some creative "accountancy" with Pogba. I wouldn't be surprised if he rocked up at Barcelona.
 
World class player who never really found the right coach to get the most out of his ability. Would have had a better career if he had been managed by someone like Pep at some point.
 
Blood Mage said:
World class player who never really found the right coach to get the most out of his ability. Would have had a better career if he had been managed by someone like Pep at some point.
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Coming back to United was a diabolical move. Had he went to Real or even stayed at Juve, would have been much better. United just hasn’t been it for the past decade.
 
Blood Mage said:
World class player who never really found the right coach to get the most out of his ability. Would have had a better career if he had been managed by someone like Pep at some point.
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He’s an adult responsible for his own career. It was always “if he played with X” when he was here and this sort of nonsense is now being posted to absolve him of his own failures.
 
TsuWave said:
Coming back to United was a diabolical move. Had he went to Real or even stayed at Juve, would have been much better. United just hasn’t been it for the past decade.
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Nonsense. He's a huge talent but his downfall is of his own making. It's well documented that he had plenty of issues off the pitch, not to mention the ban.

We bough top players to make a difference, he was a lazy none committed player who only played well here and there.
 
Someone said:
Nonsense. He's a huge talent but his downfall is of his own making. It's well documented that he had plenty of issues off the pitch, not to mention the ban.

We bough top players to make a difference, he was a lazy none committed player who only played well here and there.
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Instead of writing fanfiction about off the pitch issues, why not just stick to reality? You've watched United suck for over a decade and countless players regress here, but this is the hill you want to die on. It was a horrible career move, as it has been for other players - this isn't a Pogba specific thing. "We bought top players to make a difference", yeah - that's gone great, evidently.

"Downfall" - Pogba has still had a career better that 90% of players could ever dream of - and no one has absolved him of responsibility - he wasn't as consistent as he should have been in a United shirt - simply saying that said career would have been better elsewhere because United just hasn't been it.
 
TsuWave said:
Instead of writing fanfiction about off the pitch issues, why not just stick to reality? You've watched United suck for over a decade and countless players regress here, but this is the hill you want to die on. It was a horrible career move, as it has been for other players - this isn't a Pogba specific thing. "We bought top players to make a difference", yeah - that's gone great, evidently.

"Downfall" - Pogba has still had a career better that 90% of players could ever dream of - and no one has absolved him of responsibility - he wasn't as consistent as he should have been in a United shirt - simply saying that said career would have been better elsewhere because United just hasn't been it.
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Off pitch issues isn't fan fiction. It's well documented and has enough material to make a movie about it. To assume this had no impact on his career is nonsense. Him taking banned substances isn't fan fiction either. He received one of the longest bans ever documented for a footballer, even after the reduction. Things might have been bad for United, but it has been for other clubs like Liverpool for decades as well, it didn't stop top players from giving their all and shining. He was lazy and lacked commitment, hence, the incredible inconsistency through out his time here. The fact that he has won everything with his country is irrelevant, he fecked up his club career.
 
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