Since Paul Pogba left Manchester United in 2012, he has won 4 Italian league titles and 2 Coppa Italia medals. Pogba’s world record signing concludes Mourinho’s “primary” transfer window. The Pog’s back in the Premier League and his influence stretches beyond what happens on the grass.
The Team
Mourinho recently described him as a second midfield player, comparing him to Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. He defines a second midfielder as “the one that is strong enough, is powerful enough, has defensive intensity but at the same time has creativity, has goals”. He has also specified his position in the line-up by further explaining, “they’re the second player who sometimes score more goals than the No 10 but defends as a No 6”. Jose famously defends with 2 lines of 4 that are compact and aggressive and he has inherited a team with those characteristics but with more emphasis on control through possession. With 88 fouls committed and 10 yellow cards received in the Serie A last season, he certainly has the aggression required for a Mourinho team. Pogba’s signing helps him turn a well-drilled possession machine to a team that is faster in transitions from defence to attack.
The attacking set-up will take a different form from the Chelsea team that won the league, although the system remains the same. In Ibrahimovic and Rooney, Jose has two goal threats that drop deep to receive the ball and create chances – 9 and a half. Mkhitaryan and Martial will provide the penetration and width. Behind the trio of attacking players will be the Pogba midfield partnership. He will play alongside Carrick/Herrera/Schneiderlin to create the base for the more advanced attackers. He will also have the freedom to run behind the strikers and receive the ball closer to the box. Pogba is a player who can carry the ball from one box to another flamboyantly. Here’s where it gets interesting for United fans, because on the way to the opposition goal they have a midfielder that can glide past defenders, pass, dribble or shoot and that’s the unpredictability the team has been crying out for over the last few seasons. That keeps everyone on the edge of their seat and gets the crowd going. The predictable, drab, monotonous, I’ll rather watch paint dry attacking style is out of the window, with him in the team.
However, he is not yet the complete article. At Juventus, he was largely enabled or outshone by a cast that starred the likes of Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio. Juve’s three man midfield got the best out of him. In a two man midfield as he’s expected to feature in, he tends to struggle more as we witnessed at the Euro’s. There’s also a strong claim to be made that he needs to learn how to control and dictate the tempo of games more as opposed to his propensity for being a Vine and highlights player .Effectively, he needs to learn to do the less fashionable stuff. However, he’s young enough and has a high enough ceiling to negate these concerns.
The Club
The appointment of Ed Woodward as Manchester United’s Chief Executive gave a man who ran the commercial side of the business prior to 2014 the keys to the footballing side of the business that had been under the purview of Ferguson and David Gill. He has seen that Manchester United earn close to £125m a year from their kits only (£75m from Adidas and £47m from Chevrolet). In his first Rodeo, he offered more than Madrid did for Bale. A few months later he broke Man United’s transfer record when he offered Juan Mata respite from Mourinho. Six months later he signed Champions League winner Di Maria breaking the British transfer record in the process. He then made Martial the most expensive teenager in history the following summer. He has had a lot of practice and gradually it is coming together- Di Maria is the only record breaker that is not at the club right now. Mata might also be on his way out.
In Paul Pogba, Manchester United and Adidas now officially have a poster boy worthy of the record kit deal they signed in 2014. The signing has been well staged, right from announcing the medical using the #POGBACK in his favourite colours (black and gold), to ensuring he arrived at Carrington in a red and black Chevrolet to the video with Stormzy. The Man United website has even changed the colour of its crest to black and gold. “Brand United” (Adidas, Chevrolet and Manchester United) will be salivating over the prospect of its numbers this season.
How does he compare?
For all the TV money the Premier League has, in the past few seasons, we have seen Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, and Angel Di Maria leave. Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez aside, Pogba is the biggest player to join the Premier League in recent years. He was involved in 35 league games, scoring 8 goals and providing 12 assists. To put that in perspective, he would have been joint 3rd in assists in the premier league behind Ozil and Eriksen. He would have scored more goals than Eriksen and De Bruyne and the same amount as Rooney and Coutinho. With 102 take-ons he would have been 4th behind Mahrez, Zaha and Barkley, just above Alexis Sanchez and Hazard. Only Harry Kane would have had more shots at goal than Pogba with 124. In Frank Lampard’s highest scoring season in 2009/10, he scored 22 goals (10 of which were penalties) from 141 shots. Steven Gerrard’s highest scoring season in 2008/09 produced 16 goals (4 pens) from 133 shots. They both recorded 12 non-penalty goals in their highest scoring seasons as well as 14 and 9 assists respectively. Pogba posted 7 non-penalty goals last season. Extrapolating such statistics across leagues is obviously tricky but it highlights the upward curve Pogba ought to embark on.
On paper Manchester United’s starting eleven looks complete. It remains to be seen how cohesive and effective the team will be on the pitch. Ed Woodward might have had a checkered couple of years at the helm of affairs but his conduct this summer can be taken as reflective of a clear intention to do better and ensure his club challenge the e Barcelona/ Real/ Bayern axis.