No one single player perfectly embodies the Manchester United turnaround under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quite like Paul Pogba. In the nine and a half games that Solskjaer has been in charge, Pogba has six goals and five assists. No other Red Devils player has been involved in as many goals as the Frenchman during the ten games of the Solskjaer era.
The midfield maestro is now starting to live up to the record breaking transfer fee that brought him back to the club in the summer of 2016. However, had Jose Mourinho stayed on as manager, we wouldn’t be seeing this.
It was well known that Mourinho and Pogba just couldn’t coexist, and there were rumors that Pogba wanted out.
His brother Mathias has since confirmed that those rumors were true.
“Did Paul think about leaving because of Mourinho? Of course,” Mathias said in an interview with French TV station Telefoot.
“Of course. It comes to mind. But today he is where he is. He was under contract so he had to grit his teeth and keep working.”
And right now we’re seeing all that hard work pay off. If you didn’t see Pogba’s assist yesterday, in the only goal of the game, go to this link and watch the video. It was no doubt a nominee for pass of the year.
Under Solskjaer, United have won nine times, drawn once and lost zero.
Paul Pogba and United are back in action this Saturday, with a league fixture at Fulham.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.