Now into his fifth season at Manchester United after his record transfer, Paul Pogba is still
not playing at his best for the club who were so keen to construct a squad around him.
Didier Deschamps, who guided France to the 2018 World Cup win with Pogba a key part of the team,
recognised the midfielder’s predicament.
“He is in a situation with his club where he cannot be happy,
neither with his playing time, nor with his positioning.”
So where could Pogba go to find a situation that works for him?
Pogba’s two great assets are his long passing and his ability to make surging runs from deep.
He possesses great vision and the technical ability to execute long passes, either high
or driven low along the ground, that spread the play add verticality to his team’s attacks.
This is allied to his understanding of when to make his runs forwards. He can carry the
ball past players with a mix of force and skill, but is perhaps better suited to passing and then
pushing up to get on the end of any return. His height and speed make him a dangerous
late arrival in the box, naturally drawing defenders and proving a goal-scoring threat.
While Pogba is not as natural at defending as some deep-lying midfielders,
he’s not incompetent. The issue is more that too much defensive onus thwarts his game
and can prevent him for excelling at what he does best in more advanced positions.
Pogba’s preference for playing on the left-side of a midfield three has been well-publicised,
not least by the player himself. Systems that get the best from him tend to afford a greater degree
of midfield protection, or have wing backs that can tuck inside and cover for his runs.
This was the set-up in which he flourished at Juventus, with Pirlo, a deep playmaker,
behind him who could be responsible for collecting the ball from deep,
an energetic defensive presence in Arturo Vidal alongside, and wing backs to cover him.
Manchester United’s issues arise from Bruno Fernandes being undroppable. This requires
Solskjaer to play with a 10, so United must therefore either use a diamond, or a double pivot.
The diamond has flaws because the full backs are not ideally suited to it
and it can leave them open in wide areas, while the double pivot means Pogba ends up deeper and
either having to stay back or, if he moves up, overburdening his colleague in the pivot.
It’s less a problem with Pogba himself, and more that the balance of the squad.
So where might he do better? For financial reasons, only a few teams are in the running – and
it’s also inconceivable that United would sell him to another Premier League team.
Bayern Munich, who have the money and are a superb team, are wedded to the 4-2-3-1 at the moment,
with Thomas Muller’s role in the 10 position integral to the side. So, that rules them out.
That leaves a handful of clubs, all European superpowers for whom
the acquisition of Pogba could enhance their squad and their commercial pull.
Two who are not currently the right fit for Pogba, but could easily adapt,
are Barcelona and Juventus. Juve are still feeling their way to a consistent system under Andrea
Pirlo, who of course knows Pogba from their player days together. Pirlo’s 3-4-3 or 3-5-2,
used in four games this season, looks ready made for Pogba, who could play on the left side of
the midfield two or three with the solidity of a back three behind and wing backs to assist.
Pirlo also wants his players to find vertical, third man passes to a player in space – if this
were Pogba, he could then turn and carry or find another pass before continuing his run.
Barcelona would require more adaptation, as Ronald Koeman currently has them using a 4-2-3-1
or a 4-4-2. But a 4-3-3 is the natural Barcelona shape, and becomes more likely should Xavi return.
The squad is slightly more quick and physical than, for example, Pep Guardiola’s best teams,
with Frenkie de Jong adding drive and ball-carrying from midfield. He and Pogba
could work very well together, alongside a busy ball-winning type of player, with de Jong dropping
deep to link defence and midfield, and Pogba pushing up. But this would be more of a stretch.
Real Madrid definitely works: they set up mostly in a 4-3-3 and with Casemiro the anchor,
the left-sided central midfielder is expected to get forwards and support
attacks involving the left winger, Eden Hazard, with Karim Benzema moving across too. In fact,
Federico Valverde, who is playing in this position at the moment,
has exactly the sort of forward movement and range of passing that Pogba would bring.
Any move would make tactical as well as commercial sense,
and with Luka Modric now 35 and Toni Kroos 30,
securing a potentially elite midfield replacement who is only 27 would make a lot of sense.
Lastly, there’s Paris Saint-Germain. Again, they mostly use a 4-3-3, but with a relatively
workmanlike midfield. Leandro Paredes is the deep-playmaker in the six position, flanked by
Idrissa Gueye and Ander Herrera, who are first and foremost pressers and ball-winners. PSG like to
create a 2-3-5 shape in attack, with width coming from the wing backs, but it is possible to thwart
this with a mirroring 5-3-2 shape and if Neymar and Mbappe are shackled well, PSG can struggle.
Pogba – with his midfield presence and tendency to attract defenders – would offer a dynamic that
PSG occasionally miss. They also have the funds and global appeal to make a transfer realistic.
Pogba can, of course, stay at United and hope that the system changes but with Fernandes so key
and Donny van de Beek joining the squad, an exit next summer appears likely.
While few clubs can afford him, which limits his options, Juventus and Real Madrid are both very
plausible, while PSG offers an intriguing alternative that ticks all the boxes.