Having left the Red Devils’ famous youth system to make his senior breakthrough under Sir Alex Ferguson, following four years in Italy with Juventus, the France international returned to Old Trafford in 2016 when José Mourinho spent a record fee of £89 million in order to secure his signature.
Pogba went on to win the League Cup and Europa League – making 226 appearances in total over six seasons before retracing his steps to Turin – but many questions were asked about his value to the collective cause as the midfielder versatile terrain has struggled to justify its high price.
“We asked too much of him”
Coman, who regularly played alongside Pogba for his country, told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast what went wrong for his fellow World Cup winner at United: “I was sad about his time at Manchester United because I also felt like United were asking him to do too much. You know, when I also think about his time, he started to decline a little bit. I think he was still good but people are asking him to score when he’s a midfielder. To make assists, to do everything. I think at one point he was even like the top scorer and assist maker. That’s not what you ask of a midfielder and when they ask that much of you and you can’t play your usual game. When you’re in the middle and you’re just giving people the ball, you always have to do crazy things and even if he was the best, you can’t play crazy and score. »
Coman added: “ I think that’s what happened and I really don’t think it’s his fault. “Obviously, afterwards, maybe he could have done something, but I said to myself that when you ask too much of him, you don’t ask of him what you would ask of any other midfielder in the world. So you have to play and then you lose more balls because you have to do more… because they expect you to do so much. It’s impossible…the normal game where you just take the ball and give it to the guy who will make the difference. They said Pogba wasn’t good today, that he didn’t do anything.”
Pogba experienced further difficulties in Italy, earning a four-year football ban for a positive drugs test in September 2023, which was ultimately reduced to 18 months on appeal. He is now free after having had his contract terminated and will be allowed to resume his professional career in March 2025.
