Rio on Pogba

POGBA returns

From the first moment he came through the doors of the treatment room (where players got strappings before training) I sensed there was something different about the kid.
Manchester United had taken him from Le harve and this was big news in France as Paul was highly rated. I had heard we had gone to great lengths to get his signature, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

He was a tall gangly teenager (similar to myself at the same age) but he had a confident swagger in the way he carried himself, one of a nice determined confidence.
With very little time of him being there, the young players who had trained with him and the coaches were raving about the ability and maturity he possesed.
So I took a keen interest in watching him along with the ridiculously talented Ravel Morrison.
His stature on the pitch made him immediately stand out, but he passed gracefully over all distances and had feet like a ballerina with a ball at his feet & he could score goals from outside the box too.

Paul knew what he wanted - he wanted to be the best player that his ability would allow. He knew hard work alligned with his natural talent would go a long way to getting him there. You could see he had a pure love of the game, always around to do freestyle skills before & after training, extra work on the training ground on various areas of his game and importantly you could see he was his own man, not a follower, someone who would not be influenced by others.
I remember going over to watch a group of the youth team players training and thought they werent training in a complete professional manor and saw Paul, Ravel & Januzai all sat down chatting as everyone was going inside so I strolled over and got stuck into them a bit, asking "do you guys want to be top players, do you think switching on your efforts in training on & off are going to make the manager think you should be with the first team"?

They all could see the wrongs in their behaviour but I remember Paul saying he should be there with the first team anyway! That confidence in his own ability stood out above everything for me.
Once he got over with the first team on a regular basis I remember Scholesy hacking him to the floor almost every session and Paul looking around as if to say what is this... It toughened him up im sure but also showed us he was brave and didnt shirk that other side of the game - his ability wasnt questioned by anyone of the first team... it's a young players temperament that the senior players and coaches wonder about with the kids stepping up - Paul had it.
We all know that he was allowed (reluctantly) to leave for Juventus but before he went, I stopped him in the corridor at Carrington and started to tell him he is making a mistake going there "the italian league is weaker, the stadiums arent full" etc, anything to deter him but he said the deal had been done.

I finished by saying "what do you want to be man, a top player at the best club or what"?? Paul looked at me calmly and replied "The best player in the world". I walked off stunned, not I want a chance, I need games... this boy was thinking way beyond that!
There it was again, that inner confidence oozing from him. Fast forward to now and he is en route (still a way to go to get to there) but well on his way & with the platform of Old Trafford he has a real oppurtunity to be the next Man Utd player after Cristiano Ronaldo to be crowned the best player in the world.

Man Utd need to build around a group of young hungry players like Martial, Lingard, Rashford and Pogba is the one to lead that group from the front - the only way he would want it.

Good luck Paul
Rio

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