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'Paul Pogba might leave on a free' | Andy Mitten on Pogba and McTominay

United We Stand's Andy Mitten joined Joe Molloy on Wednesday's Off The Ball to the diverging path...



Football

'Paul Pogba might leave on a free' | Andy Mitten on Pogba and McTominay

United We Stand's Andy Mitten joined Joe Molloy on Wednesday's Off The Ball to the diverging paths of Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay.

Prior to this past weekend, Scott McTominay had scored six goals in 68 appearances for Manchester United. Then he scored two in a matter of minutes against Leeds.

McTominay's ascension into the United team is no fluke according to Andy Mitten, who credits former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho for unearthing him, "Jose Mourinho was the one who picked him out, promoted him and praised him.

"There are United fans still to be won over by him because technically he doesn't have the skills of someone like Paul Pogba. But great, successful teams need squads."

"And if you look at the great United teams, there's been players like Darren Fletcher, like John O'Shea who've been really important to the success of Manchester United. They might have played 30, 40 even 50 games in their best seasons."

Mitten noted that his performance against Leeds was likely the best of his career and scoring goals has been an element of his game that has been lacking.

"I think Scott has been a success and he continues to improve with experience and hopefully get stronger with the knocks.

"It's not easy for him because he's not playing in a Fergie side where they're winning everything. He's playing in a side which is still in transition, which is still inconsistent, which started the season as badly as it did. But he's stronger and he's coming good. He's always the most vocal player on the pitch."

Manchester United's Paul Pogba (centre) and Sheffield United's Jack Robinson (right) clash during the Premier League match at Bramall Lane, Sheffield.

Pogba is better off the bench

McTominay's success was juxtaposed alongside those of Paul Pogba, who has recently found himself warming the bench more often than ever before.

"When he has come off the bench he's actually performed well...but he hasn't deserved to start," Mitten said.

"The managers made the correct decision because Paul Pogba has often performed poorly in matches.

"He's conceded possession, he's let his head go down, he's been affected by the noise around him. I don't see Real Madrid or Barcelona queueing up to buy Paul Pogba.

"Even if they were both flush with cash, I still don't see them singling him out as a prime target because quite frankly, there are better players than him."

Mitten backed up his observations by noting the analytics don't support Pogba as being one of the best players in he world, "If you look at the metrics, which all of the top clubs do, and judge players using hard data...Pogba's not coming out at the top of them."

He even speculated that Pogba could leave the club for nothing, "I sense his contract will run down and he might even leave for a free. I know for a fact that he hasn't [got the same number of suitors from a year ago]."

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Andy Mitten Manchester Untied Paul Pogba Scott Mctominay