Did Paul Pogba’s return to Manchester United have an odd motivation? (Picture: Getty Images)
Patrice Evra has made the extraordinary claim that Manchester United re-signed Paul Pogba in 2016 in a bid to humiliate legendary manager Alex Ferguson.
Pogba came through the youth ranks with United but left the club on a free transfer for Juventus in 2012 having made just seven first team appearances for the Red Devils.
He became a global star over four seasons in Turin as he shone in the Juve midfield, sparkling so brightly that Manchester United brought him back to the club for a then world record fee of £89.3 in 2016.
Jose Mourinho was in charge of the Red Devils at that point but it was Ferguson who was the boss when Pogba left in 2012.
Evra, who was teammates with Pogba at United, Juve and with France, believes the Premier League giants were sending a message to their iconic former manager by bringing the midfielder back to the club for the enormous sum.
‘Manchester United brought Paul Pogba back because they wanted to humiliate Ferguson,’ Evra told The Overlap. ‘They’re saying, you let him leave for free and now we’re going to bring him back for £80m.’
The former full-back also claims he told Pogba not to move back to Old Trafford and his compatriot actually wanted a switch to Real Madrid instead.
Alex Ferguson retired as United boss in 2013 (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I said to Paul this is going to be a big mistake, don’t go back because he had Real Madrid, Paul wanted to go to Madrid, but Florentino Pérez said they couldn’t give him this amount of money,’ said Evra.
‘Then [Mino] Raiola [his agent] called United, and he signed with him without telling me, he told me he was going to Madrid! Then he was on the plane going to Man Utd and said he was back home. I was like, “oh my God, what’s going on?”
‘The club was happy because they were selling shirts, you know the kids love Pogba – it was more commercial than actually on the pitch.
‘In his first season he didn’t do bad, but they were expecting him from midfield to score 25 goals every season.
‘He told me he felt lost. At Juventus he knew every time his position, people will cover, here he’s lost. Actually he got exposed when he went back to United.’
Patrice Evra and Paul Pogba were teammates at Manchester United, Juventus and France (Picture: Getty Images)
Wayne Rooney was also part of the discussion on the show, and while he certainly didn’t back-up the claim about Ferguson, he did feel the club let Pogba down.
The former England striker felt the club were keen for Pogba to be a cash cow off the pitch and didn’t help him enough in focussing on football.
‘I think the club, the way they brought him back and the way they announced it with ‘Pogback’. They wanted this, all this merchandise side of it,’ said Rooney.
‘When Paul was doing all his stuff, it was frustrating, but the club didn’t protect him enough.’
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