Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Prancing Pogba symbolises Man Utd revival

898059
898059
minus
plus

LONDON: After an unsteady start to his second Manchester United career, Paul Pogba has returned to the level that convinced the club to make him the world’s most expensive footballer.


Brought back to Old Trafford from Juventus in an £89.3 million ($108.9 million, 102.4 million euros) deal, the 23-year-old was initially derided for some less than stellar performances.


But he has looked close to his loose-limbed best in recent weeks and approaches Sunday’s showdown with United’s eternal rivals Liverpool as one of the Premier League’s in-form players.


“I do not expect Pogba to do anything against Liverpool other than play the way he has been playing for several weeks now — being confident and assertive on the ball and getting high up the pitch to hurt teams,” ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy told the BBC.


“By doing precisely that, he has quite quickly become hugely important for United and he is now playing with a strut and a swagger, showing us what he is capable of.”


There were glimpses of Pogba’s gifts during the season’s early weeks — a first United goal against Leicester City, a sweet 20-yard strike as part of a Europa League brace against Fenerbahce.


But in United’s last 10 league games he has truly hit his stride, scoring three goals and supplying three assists as Jose Mourinho’s side have homed in on the Champions League places.


The France midfielder scored and set up a late goal for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace last month and headed in an 86th-minute winner in a 2-1 defeat of Middlesbrough on New Year’s Eve.


United’s most recent outing, a 2-0 League Cup semifinal first-leg win over Hull City, yielded another gilded Pogba moment in the shape of a glorious, raking pass to Wayne Rooney, who shot wide. Pogba and Ibrahimovic, his fellow headline signing, quickly struck up a rapport, two cocksure showmen helping to banish memories of the drab football of the Louis van Gaal era.


Statistics show passes between the pair represent United’s most common passing combination and they have created more shooting opportunities for each other than any other Premier League duo.


Calming Carrick


“He’s one of the funniest guys I’ve played with. He’s a joker,” Pogba said of Ibrahimovic, 12 years his senior, in a BBC interview. — AFP


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon