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The man of 89 million pounds

Xavier Cordier new author
Roar Rookie
18th September, 2016
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Paul Pogba's record re-signing with Manchester United. (Supplied)
Xavier Cordier new author
Roar Rookie
18th September, 2016
7

Born in the east of France, Paul Labile Pogba always dreamt of playing at the highest level, but never dreamt he would become the man of 89-million Pounds.

The heavy price tag that has become a universal nickname for him with his return to Old Trafford, has led to many doubters across Europe and the world. ‘Is he worth the record breaking sum?’ and ‘When will he prove his worth?’.

These are all common headlines peppering our screens and phones globally in the past weeks, but this sort of treatment is common, in particular within the giants of the EPL.

All you need to do is look at every big EPL team’s signings from the last couple years to find one of these headlines. Whether it be Roberto Soldaldo not scoring post the Bale-era, Christian Benteke missing chances or Radamel Falcao once again warming the bench.

It was always going to be hard to prove that tag unless you are Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, but the lack of patience by media, fans and the whole world continues to baffle me.

Time and time again many players have started slow but eventually found their feet in stunning style. An example of a player who needed time was Kevin De Bruyne.

Signed for Chelsea with high hopes, he was never given the chance nor support to blossom. Sent packing to Werder Bremen and later Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, finally he was given the patience and the time that he needed. What do you know? He lived up to expectations.

Now is thriving in Manchester, providing assists, scoring goals and becoming a threat to be reckoned with in England and Europe.

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There are countless examples that I could list from now until the end of the season, but the point is even if there is a towering figure, players need to be given the time to adjust to the sheer quality and intensity of the league.

As a fan of the man, I’m always going to be biased towards him and ask people to reflect on his past achievements, ridiculous skills, suave style of play and utter swagger off and on the pitch but I still believe the lack of patience and time is astonishing.

Hopefully he does live up to the tag, even if to many that seems as possible as Leicester going back to back. It would be great for the league – and unfortunately great for Manchester United (coming from a LFC fan) – while once again reiterating my point.

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