Plus: Jamie Carragher on Pogba: "Get rid. I've been saying this for 12 months. He is the most overrated player I've ever seen in my life." Pogba's agent Mino Raiola said he "needs a change of scenery" and Manchester United should consider offloading him or risk losing him on a free.
Tuesday 8 December 2020 19:53, UK
Paul Merson believes Paul Pogba would have had knowledge of Mino Raiola's statement about his happiness at Man Utd, and encouraged the Frenchman to "go and play snooker" if he wants the game to centre around him.
Pogba's agent says he "needs a change of scenery" and Manchester United should consider offloading him or face the prospect of losing him on a free transfer because he has no intention of extending his current deal.
Merson believes the statement will have come in light of a team registering their interest in Pogba with Raiola, and says things haven't worked at Old Trafford because United aren't dominating games and can't make him the centre of attention.
In light of Raiola saying that Pogba "can't manage to express himself like he wants" at Old Trafford, Merson insists Pogba is part of a team, and that he should play an individual sport if he wants the glory.
"Raiola says the style of football doesn't suit him. He's playing in a football team. He's not a snooker player. He plays with 10 other players. You join a team.
"It's not like Man Utd are the most defensive team you've ever seen. Look at Tottenham! I don't hear Harry Kane and Son moaning. Go and play snooker if you want it to be all about you.
"He knew the statement was going out. It's his agent. He might play dumb, he might turn around say he didn't know, but of course he knows. He'll also know there's a club interested in him. Raiola would have spoken to a club that is interested in Paul Pogba.
"They're not going to mug themselves off by saying: 'Paul wants to leave' and then nobody comes in for him. Everything is already sorted on Pogba's side of it!
"An agent doesn't come out and say a player wants to leave without interest there. Pogba knows full well what his agent is doing: Raiola has a club for him. You keep on hearing about Ronaldo coming back to Man Utd - that could he a shout - Pogba for Ronaldo?"
Merson continued: "It just hasn't really worked for him. The lad can play, I've watched him at Juventus and with France, you don't win a World Cup if you can't play.
"When he's played for Juventus, they dominated every football match they played in. They had 70 per cent of the ball, and you're going to touch it 40, 50 times more than you do at Man Utd, so you're going to do three or four more good things in a game.
"When you've got that much talent and you're touching the ball 100 times, you're going to make things happen. But it's not all going through Paul Pogba. Man Utd don't dominate games like Juventus did, and that means he's under severe pressure to make things happen.
"It's confidence. We can all say: 'Is Paul Pogba that good?' It's all confidence. The lad can play, but we never talk about his confidence.
"Is Bruno Fernandes a better player than Paul Pogba? Technically no. But at the moment he looks it. He's playing with absolute freedom, all the confidence in the world.
"Some places just don't work for people. There's always a 'fit' for a player, where you enjoy your football, but with Pogba, from day one it just doesn't look right."
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher labelled Pogba and Raiola a "disgrace" and urged Manchester United to move the Frenchman on at the earliest opportunity.
"Get rid. I've been saying this for 12 months. He is the most overrated player I've ever seen in my life. I think the two of them are a disgrace. We'll all blame the agent now and say, 'Ask Pogba - what does he think?'
"Agents in this day and age, they're not just agents. They're a parent, they're a best friend, they're a financial advisor, they book holidays, they go away with each other.
"He will be Pogba's best mate, so Pogba will be well aware of what's going to come out of his mouth - and if he wasn't, he should sack his agent. It's very simple. That's all that needs to happen.
"With Cristiano Ronaldo at United, there was always talk that he was going to go to Real Madrid and almost everybody knew he was going to go to Madrid at some stage.
"Man United had to put up with it because he was worth the hassle. Pogba is not worth the hassle. Get rid of him."
The issue for United, according to Carragher, will be finding an appropriate suitor for the 27-year-old.
"There's no chance in the world that Real Madrid or Barcelona will buy him," he added.
"I've been flabbergasted already today with Arsenal's performance, but I'll be flabbergasted again if they come in for him. I wouldn't go anywhere near him."
Analysis from Sky Sports' Ben Grounds:
Mino Raiola's latest use of the media to alert suitors of Paul Pogba's availability is noticeable in its timing. Less than a month away from the January transfer window, and less than 48 hours after the midfielder had produced his first decent 45 minutes in a Manchester United shirt this season.
Pogba, along with his team-mates, had been dismal against West Ham in the first half. But a stroke of good fortune swung the game in United's favour - with Dean Henderson's clearance appearing to curl back into play leading up to Pogba's fine first-time finish from Bruno Fernandes' pass.
It sparked a 13-minute purple period for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side with Pogba at the fore. By the end, he had made more touches (121) and completed more passes (91) than any other player.
But what ought to have led to onlookers revising their opinion on Pogba's worth to this United side - and his value in being included from the start in Tuesday night's pivotal Champions League encounter with RB Leipzig - has been overshadowed by his agent's latest outburst.
At the London Stadium was flickering evidence against the dissenters that Pogba and Fernandes could not play together. The Portuguese passed seven times to Pogba - more than any other team-mate - while Pogba only completed more passes to Aaron Wan-Bissaka (15) than the 11 he laid on to Fernandes.
This ought to have sparked the debate again over whether the pair can form two-thirds of United's midfield three, but the focus is instead back on an old agenda.
The 2018 World Cup-winner has been fit for some time following ankle surgery at the start of this year, as well as a positive Covid test, but has become a bit-part player at United.
France manager Didier Deschamps spoke last month about how the 27-year-old 'cannot be happy' with his situation at the club, a week after the player himself acknowledged his 'stupid mistake' in conceding the penalty that consigned United to a first home defeat to Arsenal since 2006.
Pogba's talent is undoubted, returning fleetingly at West Ham, but throughout his second spell at Old Trafford it has been a tale of one step forward, two steps back.
