Why Manchester United’s uneasy truce over Paul Pogba’s future can still prosper despite Real Madrid’s lure

The questions about Paul Pogba’s future are not going away but he is at least answering them honestly. After opening his Premier League season by creating two goals in an emphatic if not entirely convincing win over Chelsea, the midfielder admitted once again that his future may lie away from Manchester United.

“Obviously there have been things said, but only time will tell,” he told RMC Sport at Old Trafford. “This question mark remains. However, as I said, I am here in Manchester. I enjoy playing with my team-mates and I always want to win every game. I always give it everything."

After the final whistle, Pogba had stood in front of the Stretford End and taken in their applause, passing his shirt on to a supporter. It was an altogether different atmosphere than one he experienced on virtually the same spot three months earlier, after the final day defeat to Cardiff City, when he stood and listened to a fan tell him to “pack [his] bags and f*** off”.

Pogba would still like to act on that advice. He still could, in theory. The Spanish window does not close until the end of the month. Real Madrid remain interested but United’s stance has only hardened. Their inability to replace Pogba following last Thursday’s transfer deadline makes any move between now and September extremely unlikely.

There is some scepticism, meanwhile, over whether Madrid could afford the player anyway. A recent bid of £27.6m plus James Rodriguez suggested not. That was never an offer likely to be accepted by United, who, when the time comes, may ultimately hold out for more than the often-cited £150m valuation.

Inside the club, there is a belief that Pogba has acted professionally ever since returning to duty at the start of July. He is said to have displayed the right attitude and level of application in training, putting the uncertainty over his long-term future to one side and instead concentrating on pre-season preparations.

That view is supported by the frank but conciliatory tone of his post-match comments. Pogba was not pretending that all is sunshine and roses for him in Manchester but he appears to know that he is staying for the foreseeable. That means the time for agitation is over and from here on, his performances cannot fall below a certain standard.

open image in gallery

Sunday was far from his greatest United display. In fact, it was by and large what we have come to expect from Pogba: long ineffective spells of doing the basics but little more, suddenly punctuated by moments which speak to his true talent.

There was the perfectly-lofted through ball for United’s third, which reduced Chelsea's defence to mere spectators and invited Marcus Rashford to score his second. There later followed a charge out the back, from one penalty area to the other, which only finished when he could play a well-timed pass to Daniel James for the fourth.

open image in gallery

In those moments, you see how he may be well-suited to the brand of football that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is attempting to promote. You see why he was picked out by this particular club when an adolescent in France. You also see how, if this is to be his final year at Old Trafford, he might at least be able to enjoy it.

When Pogba first admitted this summer that he was considering leaving United, we wrote that Solskjaer faced an unenviable position: either keep an unhappy player for another year or more, or sell now.

We are now much more likely to see the former scenario than the latter, and so long as their uneasy truce holds, it might not be such a bad compromise for both parties.