03 May 2023 , 14:44
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Paul Pogba has been criticised for becoming a “retiree” during his rotten return to Juventus.
The French midfielder left Manchester United last summer on a free transfer at the end of his contract. He sealed an emotional reunion with the Italian club by signing a three-year-contract.
After his move back to Turin, Pogba laid down his intentions to show all at Old Trafford that the decision to let him leave was the wrong one. Speaking on his self-titled documentary, he said: “My thought process is to show Manchester [United] that they made a mistake in waiting to give me a contract. And to show other clubs that Manchester had made a mistake in not offering me a contract.”
Despite that target, things could not have gone worse for Pogba. A succession of injury problems has limited the 30-year-old to just six appearances this season.
He also was not fit enough to play at the World Cup in Qatar. Ex-Juve midfielder Massimo Mauro is now among those to have criticised Pogba by suggesting that he has all-but hung up his boots.
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He said: "I'm not going to get a player on a free transfer like this... To do what, if he doesn't play even one match, to pull the wool over the fans' eyes? We want to say that he is a retiree...".
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There were previous reports that Juventus were attempting to cancel Pogba’s contract. He remains at the club though and has a clutch of games to prove his worth.
The Old Lady have six games of the Serie A campaign remaining and will be hoping to seal a Champions League spot. They also have a Europa League semi-final showdown with Spanish side Sevilla to navigate.
Ahead of the final portion of fixtures, boss Max Allegri has claimed that he is still yet to see the player that he coached during his first spell at Juventus. Speaking ahead of a league clash with Bologna, the Italian said: “Pogba has been idle for a year. And he’s not in the best condition to play a game.
“I would like to have back the Pogba of when I first coached him, but that’s not the case at the moment. Usually, the longer someone is out, the longer it takes to recover. There are studies. Everything is normal.
“It’s not easy to play 30 games at Juventus or 40. Even the good ones… Once, with Buffon, he told me: 'I arrived in my first year at Juve and I didn’t understand anything, in my second year I didn’t realise'.
“Juve are a unique thing, there are the pressures, the stuff…. There are times of growth. We must continue and move forward, not losing sight of the goal. Now is the most difficult moment, it’s now."