He's nowhere near a Silva though. Silva has an appreciation of space and time that Pogba can only dream of. He has the physical traits of a Gerrard moreso than a Silva and he was groomed as that type of player when he was in the youth teams here.
Therein, I propose, lies part of his problem.
When rafa moved Gerrard higher up the pitch, one comment I thought described the transition well was "rather than trying be the next Keane he should focus on being the next Nedved".
The idea of him being an all action midfielder, which Pogba at least at one point also believed in, is bust. His manager, and himself, ought to be asking what he is instead.
When he left for Italy, he wasn't an obvious long-term fit for any of the two main midfield spots occupied by Pirlo, Marchisio, and later Vidal, and was instead the third man in midfield with license to bomb forward - again, not much different to Gerrard.
Later Gerrard. By the time he moved in between midfield and attack, he had a long body of work as both the deeper lying midfielder and as a box to box midfielder in a midfield 2 at a much higher level than Pogba has managed to date. And both were used to being the guy that bails out his team mates from a much younger age.
When he came back, he was meant to be the player we built around - a la Gerrard at Liverpool c.2004 but because he couldn't (or seemingly wouldn't) work in double pivot, that plan fell by the wayside and Jose went down the route of Sanchez. When Jose burned his bridges, Pogba was again given the keys to the team and was fantastic for two months playing in a Gerrard/Robson/Keane-lite role where he picked up the ball in deep positions, distributed it and bombed on. Again, the polar opposite to Silva and more like Gerrard.
The difference is that Gerrard and Robson could actually hold their own in a midfield 2.
And during that time, players around him were buzzing as well with plenty of willing runners. Big difference to Gerrard and Robson who knew how to carry it forward and make things happen when their team mates didn't really know what to do.
Pogba has a more delicate technique, and, despite his build, is not really much of a physical player. He'll never be as subtle as silva, but he could be a more athletic version of that kind of player. He'll never be a Robson or Gerrard, as he doesn't have the aggression, physicality or drive to do what they did in possession, never mind out of possession.
At some point, repeated attempts to make him that is not just the player's failure but a failure of management.
My point is there is a lot in perception. No one gives silva any shit for doing the bare minimum out of possession or for not dragging teams to victory by the scruff of the neck, because no one reasonably expects him to be that player. He's a powder puff player who does just enough grafting for that to not ruin his overall superb game. The question for him is "how do we make sure to bring his qualities into play".
Pogba as the perfect all-rounder and midfield leader just isn't going to happen. Someone should have asked 2 years ago "OK, so how do we make sure to amplify the qualities he does have". Instead he gets shit for lacking the qualities he doesn't have, because everyone expects him to be Gerrard/Robson. Of inclination, he is made of the same stuff as guys like silva.