Paul Pogba

[James Morgan]

I'd love to see him at City. If for no other reason than to compare how he performs in a coaching and management set-up like ours compared to the one over at the swamp. Like it or not, we need to grow our global presence and like Grealish, Pogba is a good looking fella that will help with our international media profile. Plus, if he were to succeed, TV cut-away shots to the chomping, seething, purple-headed GPC would be priceless.

My concern it could very easily go either way. He could turn up and be brilliant, the player we have seen for France and even raise our game.

or, he could be an absolutely toxic addition to our squad and actually create a problem with the culture in the dressing room and we see us slip to a 4th place finish.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

This only makes sense if Pep is leaving..... :-(

How?

 

[Mfhvc]

This only makes sense if Pep is leaving..... :-(

I'm not sure if that logic follows. He's a technically gifted midfielder, I'm sure Pep wouldn't mind the option of having him on a free, or even if he sees him as regular starter.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Juanma Lillo invented the 4-2-3-1… just saying

Yeh we tried that shape when he first came in... and it didn't work out too well.

 

[Dribble]

Get where you’re coming from but I’d guess that would add about £60m+/annum to our wage bill

Aren’t there plans afoot to make it so as you can only spend 70% of turnover on wages?

Fern doesn't play for free & we've got the smallest squad in the PL which is why I think we've come up short this season.

These aren't luxury signings, we urgently need replacements for Aguero & Fernandinho, hence the quest for Haaland & the possibility of Pogba as a No 6.

Frenkie De Jong only becomes a possibility if either or both of Bernardo & Gundog decide to do one, & FDJ becomes available at the right price, & we're interested & so's he...

 

[domalino]

This is not entirely about Pogba, it’s something I’ve been thinking for a while…Does anyone else think that this team actually lacks a bit of ego?

We’re the greatest side in English football history and yet often appear almost embarrassed by it, overly reverential or even meek in games against big sides.

If you look at Pep’s Barcelona you had quiet hard workers like Xavi, Pedro and Iniesta but also Pique, Alves and Eto’o who would say “Yeah, we’re the best side in the planet and we’re going to show you why”. Brazil 1970, Ajax in the 70s, Milan in the 80s … they all had players who weren’t shy about being the best side in the world.

Going back to the Real first leg, after 20 minutes there seemed to be an air of “I can’t believe this is happening” among the players, and we were way too respectful of PSG and Atletico. We were overawed by the CL final last year.

Pep is brilliant but he can squash players’ personalities a bit and we have a few who seem to constantly doubt themselves despite their quality and successes. If I have one criticism of him compared to Klopp it’s that he doesn’t seem to instil the same unshakeable confidence in his players which clearly makes them play better.


You have to have the performances and quality to back it up, but a bit of swagger would be a good addition to this squad IMO and maybe the last bit missing to make them go down as one of the greatest sides of all time.

 

[bluenova]

Where was he rated in season 4 and 5?

Pretty sure he drops of a cliff in those,seasons. Maybe it's a blip, and there is still a player in there.
For a "free" transfer there are still risks to City if it goes tits up.
I'll leave the club experts to decide if he could be asset to the team. For me, I feel he is past his best.

He would have been about 25 in season 4 and 41 in season 5. A big drop off - although still not far off many of our players, even in a much less successful team. As I said, that could be due to injuries disrupting his season, him not fitting into whatever 'system' Ole thought he was playing, or a genuine drop off.

Even at those levels, he's slightly above Declan Rice for example. If you think about how many spots City and Liverpool take up, and then the best players at the other big teams, he's still in the top few % of PL players.

If the club are convinced his injuries haven't diminished him physically, then I think it would be interesting to see just what Pep can do with him.

 

[Centurions]

I think you know he’s coming mate and after thinking about it this morning I’ll back pep to get his France performances to city! On a free at decent wages he deserves the chance to prove himself if he wants it.

This calls for a new "Welcome to Manchester" poster methinks :)

 

[CC1]

This only makes sense if Pep is leaving..... :-(

He wants to work with Pep so not sure how you reached this conclusion

 

[SalfordGrimble]

My concern it could very easily go either way. He could turn up and be brilliant, the player we have seen for France and even raise our game.

or, he could be an absolutely toxic addition to our squad and actually create a problem with the culture in the dressing room and we see us slip to a 4th place finish.

I don’t think one player could do that, he would be outcasted by the team.
I think Pogba’s problems have only ever been that he went back to United as he was promised they were competing to be the best, ever since then he’s been the the whipping boy of a team that have consistently embarrassed themselves. I imagine they have kept promising (were bringing Ronaldo back etc) and kept failing to deliver. It’s no wonder he’s pissed off, probably thinks why didn’t I join City back then instead.