This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Speaking on ESPN FC, Craig Burley has urged Manchester United to let Paul Pogba leave the club.
What did he say?
The France World Cup winner was at the centre of one of football’s biggest transfer sagas earlier in the summer, with reports suggesting the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid were on his radar.
However, a deal failed to materialise before the end of the deadline, and Pogba has had to stay put at Old Trafford. Speaking a couple of months ago, the 26-year-old admitted that a “question mark” still remains over his long-term future at the club, and Burley has now revealed the Red Devils should simply let him leave.
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He said (as quoted by The Express): “Paul Pogba, fantastic talent, don’t see enough of it, he’s injured at the moment. I don’t think he wants to be in Manchester. I think he wants to be somewhere else, no matter what he says. He hasn’t really performed consistently. I wouldn’t keep him for that reason.
“If I had a great team, and I could fit him into that great team that Ferguson had, I’d probably keep him because you know he can produce. But at this moment in time, I only want people who want to be there, and I don’t think he does.”
Decision time
When the January transfer window finally opens in less than a couple of months time, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have a major decision on their hands. Do they cash in on the Frenchman and fully accept that they are in rebuild mode, or do they hang on to him in the hope that he could still yet form the heartbeat of their side?
Whilst he has previously suggested he would be open to a new challenge, would the Red Devils qualifying for the Champions League for next season possibly change his mind? The Frenchman, like most others, surely wants to play in European football’s elite competition, and at the moment, with United lying in tenth in the Premier League, that doesn’t seem like it’s happening. So as Burley suggests, it may be in everyone’s best interests for the club to simply acquiesce to their £89m signing’s requests.
