Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has received “a lot of unjustified criticism” during his second spell at Old Trafford according to his former teammate Matteo Darmian. The Italian defender has insisted that Pogba has always been fully committed to the club’s cause in the future.
Since returning to the Theatre of Dreams from Serie A giants Juventus for a reported record transfer fee of £89 million ($111m) in the summer of 2016, Pogba has more often than not found himself among the headlines for most of the wrong reasons.
Despite the fact that the World Cup winner has contributed 31 goals in 143 outings for the Red Devils, Pogba has often been accused of failing to deliver the goods on a consistent and more regular basis.
Amid the inconsistent performances, the 27-year-old Pogba has also been continually linked with a move away from Old Trafford, with interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid, and even admitted to being open to undertaking a new challenge in the summer.
Darmian witnessed Pogba’s unique abilities up close Manchester United but never witnessed the midfield ace shirking his responsibilities or pushing for a transfer despite constantly targeted by the journalists and former pundits.
While speaking to the Guardian, the 30-year-old former Manchester United star revealed his relationship with Pogba, “Paul is my friend and I have an excellent relationship with him. First of all: we are talking about a real champion here, a great footballer, but even they can have some periods when they don’t do as well [as they would like].
Darmian further explained that most fans and pundits expect Pogba to justify his heft price tag which causes him to come under scrutiny from the UK media, “The real “problem” with Pogba at United, I think, was the price the club paid for him and that conditioned the way people perceived him. There has been a lot of unjustified criticism towards Pogba, for example, that he doesn’t work hard enough, but he always gave his best, I can assure you, in every training session. In my opinion, his performances were good in recent years, they talk about him too negatively [in the UK].”
