Paul Pogba Can't Make Manchester United Premier League Champions on His Own

It was always meant to be Paul Pogba’s summer, though not quite like this.

Euro 2016 was always destined to be his tournament, where he swept France to victory on home soil, following in the footsteps of Michel Platini in 1984 and Zinedine Zidane in 1998. It was to be the moment where he was finally crowned as French—and European—football royalty.

It looks like we’re getting a coronation of sorts, but not necessarily the one that Pogba would have desired, as he prepares to become the most expensive player in football history, per Alan Smith and Fabrizio Romano of the Guardian.

For every Manchester United fan who is flushed with excitement to welcome him back to Old Trafford having largely made good on the potential with which he walked out the door four years ago, there appears to be a dissenting voice from elsewhere wondering why so much expense is involved.  

Far too many, in fact, are judging Pogba on his Euros performance. Using international tournaments as the basis for assessing any player is deeply flawed, of course.

The overall quality of Euro 2016 (in terms of the actual football, rather than the storylines) was entirely consistent with modern summer international competitions, slugged out by largely exhausted players at the end of ever more demanding club seasons.

There were particularly extenuating circumstances for the off-colour version of Pogba we saw in France this summer, though. The 23-year-old may have come into it on the back of another outstanding campaign for Juventus (and nobody who has watched him regularly for the Bianconeri in the last four seasons will have many doubts over his real value), but his form for France had been unconvincing in the friendlies leading up the Euros.

When Pogba was dropped for the second group game against Albania, it felt as if it had been coming for a while, unlike the omission at the same time of his friend, Antoine Griezmann.

It got worse for him during France’s Euro campaign, even if he was subsequently restored to the XI. Didier Deschamps’ decision to invert Pogba and Blaise Matuidi in central midfield—the right-footer playing left-centre and the latter, left-footer playing right—did nothing for either player.

The second half of the last-16 game against the Republic of Ireland remedied that, at least, as Pogba and Matuidi were switched around, and the Juventus midfielder was more able to make his presence felt against tiring opponents, too. Yet that eureka moment also essentially killed any chances of Pogba making the tournament his.

International football is almost always about constructing your team around your most important player, feeding his specific needs to get the most out of him. The only problem is that Deschamps seemingly decided during the tournament that player was Griezmann, not Pogba. While the Atletico Madrid striker flourished in a fairly faithful reproduction of his club role, Pogba floundered in a sea of frustration, taking one for the team and then some.

France’s move from a 4-3-3 to a flatter 4-4-2 shape worked a treat for Griezmann. Yet the lack of a dedicated holder (which was why the injury struggles of Lassana Diarra in this calendar year were such a concern, before the fast-tracking of N’Golo Kante) left Pogba strait-jacketed.

One of the more galling sights of a generally disappointing final was seeing Pogba consistently sweeping up in front of Laurent Koscielny and Samuel Umtiti, restrained like a caged tiger.

The lesson is one worth noting for United, and for Jose Mourinho, should the deal finally be completed. Pogba is an extraordinary footballer but, like pretty much every other talent in the game, he will need optimal conditions to produce his best performances. He needs a defined role; not to be totally absolved of defensive responsibility, because it’s clear he can track and tackle, but for it not to be his ultimate purpose.

Andrea Di Marco/Associated Press

Pogba also needs the right blend of players around him. Even before his Euro difficulties, this was evident in the tricky start to Juventus’ last season.

Immediately after the stellar run to the Champions League final, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal took their leave. Arguably even more crucially, Claudio Marchisio (who had been his side’s outstanding player against Barcelona in Berlin) was injured at the start of the season. Pogba was left to hold the fort on his own, and he suffered.

Pinning Juve’s tough start to last season on him is neither reasonable nor justified. What needs to be taken from that, however, that his overwhelming quality and looming price tag (which is a product of a combination of factors including but not limited to his relative youth, Juve’s lack of need to sell and the current financial situation in the Premier League) doesn’t mean that he can do it all on his own. That shouldn’t be expected of anyone.

United are rebuilding, but not rebuilt. Whatever one believes about their relative prospects compared to those of Juve over the next few years, it would be a stretch to say that the midfield at Mourinho’s disposal is the equal of the one with which Massimiliano Allegri will enter the new campaign, even without Pogba. For a start, the new man will need his Kante or Diarra, and it remains to be seen whether Morgan Schneiderlin can step up to the plate.

What United do have is an intimate knowledge of exactly what Pogba’s core strengths, strengths that he has built on to an enormous extent during his time in Italy (even in a basic physical sense, he’s two inches taller than when he first arrived in Manchester as a 17-year-old).

His academy coach at Le Havre, Frederic Lipka, told this writer—in a 2010 report for Goal.com—that “the quality of his technique” set him apart, as well as his desire to “lead the play” and “dictate." That's exactly it, six years on. His passing, vision and shooting must have far exceeded what even those who believed in him most in the old days at Le Havre could have imagined possible.

“He’s a leader of men,” Lipka concluded. Yet as Cristiano Ronaldo, another player who experienced ups and downs during the Euros—albeit with a happier ending—proved, even the brightest stars need able foot soldiers. It’s up to United to provide that to reap the full bounty of Pogba's talent.