Paul Scholes claims Pogba is not worth £86m and that Manchester United were right to let him go
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has come out and said that United target Paul Pogba is not worth the money that is being reported in various news outlets as. The Juventus midfielder has become hot property in the transfer market with both the Red Devils and Real Madrid linked with the 23-year-old Frenchman.
United have moved fast in the transfer window after confirming Jose Mourinho as their new manager following Louis van Gaal’s two-year reign. They had already wrapped up deals for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly and the Portuguese boss had spoken about completing the signing of his “fourth target” in the coming days.
However, Scholes was astounded at the fact that Pogba could cost so much and stated that only the likes of Ballon d’Or winners Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo could command such an astronomical sum in the transfer market.
“I just don’t think he is worth £86million,” Scholes said. “For that sort of money, you want someone who is going to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere worth that kind of money yet.”
Scholes has been keeping himself busy with appearances in the inaugural Indian Premier Futsal League. The former United midfielder was the marquee player for the Bengaluru 5s but failed to take his team to the semi-finals, finishing last in the tournament.
United did the right thing letting Pogba leave: Scholes
Pogba spent three years at Old Trafford, two of which were spent honing his skills in the youth team where he even won the FA Youth Cup. His final year saw him make the step up to the senior team but he found appearances hard to come by under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Frustrated with the lack of playing time under the Scottish boss, Pogba was lured by Juventus and his agent Mino Raiola eventually secured a deal that would see Pogba leave the club instead of signing a contract extension.
The United boss had been criticised for letting a talent like Pogba go in recent years, especially after the French midfielder’s rise in the Italian Serie A. Pogba played a key role in all four of Juventus’ league title triumphs in the past four seasons and was also named the Best Young Player at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
But Scholes agreed with Ferguson’s decision to let him go rather than keep him at the club and bow to his demands.
“He was a very talented young player,” Scholes said. “I played with him and I knew how good he was. He played for the first team maybe once or twice but, from my understanding, he was asking for too much money.
“For his age, he was asking for far too much money, that too for a player who hasn’t played first team football.”