'Good in a Bad Team': The View from France of Paul Pogba's Time at Man United

The day that truly secured Paul Pogba's place in the hearts of the French people was not the day of the 2018 FIFA World Cup final but two days later.

On July 17, 2018, an audience of close to 7 million people sat down across France to watch a TF1 documentary called Les Bleus 2018: At the Heart of the Russian Epic, which charted the national team's journey to glory at the World Cup in Russia.

The 140-minute film contained a wealth of memorable moments—Didier Deschamps chastising his players after their unconvincing opening win over Australia; Steve Mandanda mocking Ousmane Dembele for his taste in music; Edinson Cavani congratulating his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates following France's victory over Uruguay in the quarter-finals—but the star of the show was unquestionably Pogba.

Before France's unforgettable 4-3 win over Lionel Messi's Argentina in the last 16, it was Pogba who set the tone in the changing room, urging his team-mates to play "like warriors" and vowing "we're not going home."

He found the right words before the win against Uruguay as well, telling the squad that they should play for Blaise Matuidi, who was forced to miss the game through suspension. The Manchester United midfielder saved his most rousing pre-game address for the day of the final.

"By tonight, I want us to be in the memories of all the French people who are watching us," he said calmly. "Their children, their grandchildren and their grandchildren again. Today, there are 90 minutes to enter history forever."

Pogba did the business on the pitch in Russia, notably scoring the third France goal in the 4-2 win over Croatia in the final, but his off-pitch contribution—which included taking on the role of MC during the post-tournament celebrations with President Emmanuel Macron on the steps of the Elysee Palace in Paris—resonated just as strongly.

Having never played senior club football in France, it has chiefly been through his performances for the national team that Pogba has built a relationship with his compatriots. After the promise of the 2014 World Cup and the heartbreak of UEFA Euro 2016, the 2018 World Cup marked his arrival as a national icon. It should also have served to cement his status as one of the world's best footballers, but things have not quite worked out that way.

Eighteen months on from his moment of glory in Moscow, Pogba's stock has fallen sharply. After coming 15th in the voting for the Ballon d'Or in 2018, he did not even make the shortlist in 2019. When L'Equipe unveiled its annual ranking of the 30 most influential people in French football on Tuesday, he was nowhere to be seen.

Injuries have restricted him to eight appearances for United this season. And amid mounting expectation that he will leave Manchester at the end of the campaign, the realisation is dawning that his second spell in England is likely to amount to no more than a pair of trophies from his first season and a fleeting purple patch in the winter of 2018-19.

The French football fans who watched Pogba inspire his country to success in Russia have been left wondering why the same figure has been seen so infrequently at Old Trafford.

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"You saw him being a leader for France and winning the World Cup, but he hasn't been able to drag up this Manchester United squad," says Thibaut Lepage, president of Manchester United Supporters Club France. "The young players and the others should be able to follow him. He should be an example. But he's not been able to do that.

"He should have instilled character at Manchester, but instead they're fumbling around at the moment and doing nothing."

Darren Tulett, an English television presenter who fronts beIN Sports' coverage of the Premier League in France, says Pogba's failure to build on his World Cup triumph has left people scratching their heads.

"I think your average French football fan is completely mystified by the whole situation," he tells Bleacher Report. "Because over here, we saw Pogba be absolutely brilliant with the French team at the World Cup in 2018. We saw him really be an influential leader of the team.

"In many ways, he's missed the boat. That World Cup should have been the springboard for him to be one of the world's best and up there with the guys who are looking for the Ballon d'Or every season. But it's like he's not kicked on."

As in England, there has also been dismay in France over Pogba's behaviour away from the pitch. Fabien Fougeray, who reports on English football for media organisations including Canal+, cites Pogba's recent period of absence with an ankle injury, during which he was pictured playing basketball in Miami, dancing at his brother's wedding and attending a charity football match in the French city of Tours.

"There's too much baggage," Fougeray says. "When you have Pogba in your team, there's a lot that comes with it. He doesn't play a lot, and that never looks good. Then he's fit again, plays two bits of games and then he's injured again. Then there's this whole communication thing [around his injury]. It's a pantomime.

"You can't blame him for going to his brother's wedding, but the whole dancing thing was a mistake. He likes to create a buzz, but people hate that."

United's French fans, meanwhile, feel frustrated that Pogba chooses to express his desire to leave the club via his agent, Mino Raiola, rather than addressing the matter himself.

"So many things get said about him, and he never speaks up," says Lepage. "He's never said anything to calm things down."

Amid all the disappointment, there is nonetheless an awareness that if Pogba has not succeeded in scaling the heights during his second spell at United, it is also because the club has failed to build a team capable of competing for the game's biggest prizes.

"I think he's an element of the failure, but just an element," says Vincent Duluc, L'Equipe's lead writer on English football. "United's sporting policy has more responsibility for the failure than Pogba. [Jose] Mourinho has more responsibility than Pogba.

"In terms of his image in France, I think he's protected by the weakness of Man United. If he were bad in a good team, everyone would say, 'He's not really a good player; he's overrated.' But it's not the case. He's generally good in a bad team when he plays, so it protects him."

Franck Sale, the head of youth recruitment at Pogba's formative club, Le Havre, believes responsibility for the midfielder's shortcomings must be shared between player and club.

"The club's expectations might not have been satisfied, but I don't think his have either," Sale tells Bleacher Report.

In addition to the EFL Cup and Europa League trophies he won in 2017, Pogba can also point to a 2018-19 season in which he scored a career-high 16 goals in all competitions and earned himself a place in the PFA Team of the Year. Duluc argues that he is now a more complete player than the one who returned to Manchester from Juventus in the summer of 2016.

"Up to Euro 2016, if not up to 2017, he had moments in matches when he'd catch fire, and you'd say, 'Ooh la la! What a player. He really does things that nobody else can do'" Duluc says. 

"Then, all of a sudden, you got the impression that having caught fire, he'd get carried away and start doing all sorts of things. He'd drift out of the match, he'd lose discipline, he'd destabilise the team. I don't think he does that anymore. Today, he knows how to manage the tempo of a match better. He knows when the team needs him to create, to score and to play passes and when the team needs him to stay in position, to help the team remain balanced and to get back and defend."

Real Madrid seems Pogba's most likely next destination, and Sale believes that in Zinedine Zidane, himself a World Cup winner with France, the 26-year-old would find a kindred spirit.

"He's a boy who would integrate without problems into that [Madrid] team," says Sale, who is credited with helping to launch Pogba's career. "And I think his relationship with Zinedine Zidane would be completely different to the relationships he's had with his other coaches. I think Zidane would have the right feeling with Paul. It's a coach-player relationship that would enable us to see a new Paul."

For now, at least, Pogba remains a United player. And although he will be out for up to four weeks after undergoing ankle surgery, there could be time for one last hurrah.

"If he feels good, in his head and his body, there's an opportunity to go and win one or two trophies and finish in the top four," Lepage says. "He's already won the Europa League with Mourinho. Why not win it again this year? He could do some nice things before the end of the season. I hope that motivates him."