The former Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has revealed Paul Pogba wasn’t “disciplined enough” to play in central midfield for the reserves let alone the first team prior to his Old Trafford exit six years ago.
Pogba, 25, joined United’s famed youth set-up from Le Havre in 2009 and would steadily rise before making seven appearances in all competitions under Sir Alex Ferguson.
However, when the legendary Scottish manager was faced with a midfield crisis ahead of a date with Blackburn in December 2011 he bypassed Pogba as he was deemed more effective further up in the pitch and not in the central area, something Fletcher noticed when coaching the reserves as he was coming back from illness.
“The first time I spent out with my illness I did a spell coaching the reserve team when it included Pogba, [Jesse] Lingard, [Ravel] Morrison and we played him higher up the pitch in attacking areas,” he told Sky Sports.
“We felt like he was the one who would win us game, coupled with the fact he was ill-disciplined in the middle of the park.
“It goes back to a famous game when we felt like he left off the back of against Blackburn.
“Paul was on the bench and the boss picked Park Ji-Sung and Phil Jones in midfield. We didn’t think he was disciplined enough for the reserve team, never mind the first team at that time.”
Pogba returned to United from Juventus, where he lifted four Serie A titles, in the summer of 2016 for a then world record fee of £89m.
His first season under Jose Mourinho culminated with collecting two major pieces of silverware: the League Cup and Europa League.
The following campaign saw him being heavily scrutinised which led to him describing himself as the most criticised player in the world.
To date, across his second stint at Old Trafford, he’s featured in no fewer than 102 matches registering 20 goals and 22 assists so far including a goal in their recent 2-1 win over Everton.
The post Paul Pogba wasn’t disciplined enough to play for Man Utd reserves – Darren Fletcher appeared first on Squawka News.
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