Friend and former teammate of Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra regrets one of the French midfielder’s career choices.
It’s a career choice he must bitterly regret today. In 2016, after four years at Juventus Turin, Paul Pogba decided to leave Italy to return to Manchester United, his previous club. A transfer of 105 million euros that made him, at the time, the most expensive player in history and took him into another dimension.
But this comeback in the north of England turned out badly for the French midfielder who, after winning the 2018 World Cup with Les Bleus, had a series of physical problems and struggled to find his best form again. These numerous setbacks were later compounded by extra-sporting problems, which led to his sequestration and the famous “Pogba affair” in 2022.
A real descent into hell for the French international, who returned to Juve in 2022, who did not help his case by being suspended for four years for doping, at the beginning of 2024, after testing positive for testosterone a few months earlier. Would the path of “La Pioche”, now aged 31, have been different if he had listened to Patrice Evra’s advice? Possible…
Pogba didn’t follow Evra’s advice
In the podcast Stick to Footballthe former left-back reveals what he told his friend before he signed for the Red Devils. “Manchester United brought in Paul Pogba to humiliate Sir Alex Fergusonhe says. I told Paul not to come back because he wanted Real Madrid and Madrid wanted him, but Florentino Perez didn’t want to pay the necessary amount.”
For him, the native of Lagny-sur-Marne should never have returned to Old Trafford, because MUFC did not recruit him for the right reasons. “His agent called United and he signed with them without telling me, he regrets. The club was happy because he was selling shirts – you know kids love Pogba. It was more commercial than anything that was happening on the pitch.”
