Summer mercato thread 2022-23 season (75 Viewers)

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Beki

Senior Member
Jul 9, 2012
1,191
I'm very worried that our midfield is going to be devoid of grinta again especially if we sign Pogba

We need those battering rams a la Tevez, Vidal, Chiellini, Licht, Mandzukic etc

There's nobody like them in this current squad

Having 2-3 players of this mould would go a long way towards a shift in the mentality of the team
I agree + not sure how motivated Pogba will be. However... not getting nor Pogba or SMS... I am out of ideas who we could sign there.
 

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Knowah

Pool's Closed Due to Aids
Jan 28, 2013
6,591
I can see a situation where Pogba comes and is immensely motivated.

We know he's super arrogant and vain and cares what people say/think about him. This was always a large part of his personality and so I have to believe the hatred and dislike from the English media and even ManU fans has weighed on him. He could push himself to "get back at them" by coming here and turning it around. Also, a return to a club he started where he doesn't necessarily feel the pressure to be the focal point of the team necessarily. Finally, Pogba is clearly a liability in defense and having strong defender behind him as well as a Locatelli figure who is good defensively and a Rovella/Miretti who can clearly hold the line as well might free him up to be more creative and push further forward.

McKennie found that freedom to always been in the box because of how well our defenders would hold behind him. Add in a player like Danilo lining up at RB who is also a CB to a degree and a good defender and there's a lot of defensive help to unlock Pogba from defending duties.

Look at him in England and look at the team built around him. Maguire is a complete joke, Varane has been a shell of his former self defensively, defensive midfielders of Matic, McTominay, and besides Fred every other midfielder is an attacking midfielder. So the only midfielders who can even hope to do anything defensively are not good at it. This puts a lot of defensive hopes on Pogba and its never been a strong suit of his.
 

Mokku

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2019
2,727
@Knowah
The problem with Pogba is that he comes out of United where the players get crazy wages and power to get managers sacked, this culture is difficult to break and it's not like he showed much on the pitch. He won't magically become hard-working and brilliant again because we've never seen this side to him. At Juve he was part of a working system with little pressure to lead and he excelled. For France he never showed leadership, instead, we get flashes of brilliance and skill but no grit. Also, not having personalities like Chiellini and Buffon to inspire him will be a problem because I'm yet to see Pogba lead United since he went back there.

This Juve will be rebuilding next year and needs someone with quality and consistency like SMS, someone to hustle all game and do the dirty work. Pogba is the icing on the cake signing like Ronaldo, unless the cake is ready we won't get much from Pogba to drag us to the top of Serie A. Pogba is not the answer for us.
 

Knowah

Pool's Closed Due to Aids
Jan 28, 2013
6,591
@Knowah
The problem with Pogba is that he comes out of United where the players get crazy wages and power to get managers sacked, this culture is difficult to break and it's not like he showed much on the pitch. He won't magically become hard-working and brilliant again because we've never seen this side to him. At Juve he was part of a working system with little pressure to lead and he excelled. For France he never showed leadership, instead, we get flashes of brilliance and skill but no grit. Also, not having personalities like Chiellini and Buffon to inspire him will be a problem because I'm yet to see Pogba lead United since he went back there.

This Juve will be rebuilding next year and needs someone with quality and consistency like SMS, someone to hustle all game and do the dirty work. Pogba is the icing on the cake signing like Ronaldo, unless the cake is ready we won't get much from Pogba to drag us to the top of Serie A. Pogba is not the answer for us.
While I agree with the wages and mentality that comes from ManU, for most players that would be a concern but Pogba has been here before. He may have bad habits to break but I think having leaders around the club can help remove some of that as well as the English media and EPL frenzy isn't here.

Also, to say he didn't show much on the pitch is kind of revisionist in my opinion. Sure, he certainly wasn't the worldbeater ManU imagined (their entire squad and org has been chaotic since his arrival) and he has certainly had his injury issues. But his 17/18 - 18/19 period was very good in terms of contributions (16 goals, 11 assists in 18/19, those are Dybala numbers). Even this year, yes his goals are WAY down (only 1) but he's contributed 9 assists in 27 appearances. He is not completely unplayable.

And with all things ManU, I do have to question how much of his issues come from that org. I mean, he played for probably the worst manager a big club has signed worldwide under Ole and then had three months of Carrick. Ole was and is a complete joke of a manager. And his arrival at Manchester United matches perfectly with a deterioration in Pogba's play. The second half of 18/19 is right when Pogba started having his issues both in matches as well as physically.

If the wages are right and not insane, I think he's a good free agent pick up. He's probably NOT worldclass midfielder but he's not midtable either. Wages and injuries will how such a signing gets judged. He's also 30 next March so he's not very old. He hasn't had anywhere near the injury issues Ramsey had when we signed Ramsey.
 

Mokku

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2019
2,727
@Knowah
I guess so but when I see Ronaldo single-handedly rescuing United and nothing remotely like that from Pogba, it makes me think he could be very expensive and underwhelming. Ronaldo is done for this season because the rest of the team gave up, the Liverpool and Brighton matches are examples of the toxic mentality of the players that will lead to another manager and a hugely expensive transfer campaign.

When I watched the Coppa final after the subs were made, it was clear that there were no leaders left on the pitch. No heroic tackles, tracking back, blocks, hard running from those players and that is what we used to be known for: Juventus take the lead and are impossible to break down. That is a mentality that has disappeared. Inter were tapping on the doors and that was enough for us to let them win, I saw nothing remarkable from Inzaghi.

My belief is that he'll go to PSG because he'll feel that it's less challenging and will think of himself as a superstar entering a superstar team. Juve is what he needs to relaunch himself but PSG will take him.
 
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