Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United, at the beginning of the season for the highest transfer sum in football history. Former England international Frank Lampard believes Paul Pogba still needs to improve before he can become a decisive player.
Paul Pogba developed as a youngster at Man United. In 2012 he left Old Trafford on a free transfer, frustrated with the lack of first team play. He joined Juventus and helped the Italian giants win four consecutive Serie A titles. In August 2017 Pogba rejoined Manchester Utd. for the record sum of £89.3million last August.
The current season has seen Pogba become an almost permanent presence in Jose Mourinho’s team. The midfielder has a record of four goals and three assists in 25 Premier League this season. However, few of these were delivered against higher ranked Premier League teams.
Despite not playing poorly, Pogba has not impressed at the level suggested by the price tag of his transfer. Unlike Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who joined United on a free transfer, Pogba has not been a player to single-handedly determine the fate of a game in his team’s favor.
Frank Lampard, former English international, weighed in on the topic of Pogba’s transfer. Lampard played in the Premier League for West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City and holds the record for most goals scored by a midfielder in the competition’s history (177).
“It was a signal of their intentions to spend £90m on a player who I wouldn’t say is the finished article,” Lampard declared to Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“He’s got fantastic attributes – he’s strong, great feet, he’s bigger than you and quicker than you as a midfield player.But when you have a £90m price tag on your shoulders we analyse more and we wonder more.”
“When you look at him at this stage of the season I’m still wondering what is his best position? What kind of player is he? What does he want to be? I feel like he’s falling a little bit in between everything. When you pay £90m you want to see those results and he hasn’t quite delivered. He’s young and he possibly will do but, as it stands, he hasn’t been the game-changer.”
Lampard added: “We do need to give him time and flip forward to next season and see if he’s improving. At £90m he has to be that dominant midfielder and I do believe that’s in him.”
