On Friday morning, Pep Guardiola set ablaze his war of words with super-agent Mino Raiola by claiming the agent offered him the chance to sign Paul Pogba in January. For those who don’t know, Mino Raiola represents Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Romelu Lukaku, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and a host of other big names.
His problems with Pep started from Ibrahimović’s unsuccessful stint at Barcelona. Since then, Raiola has hated the City manager and regularly called him a host of disparaging names. In a blockbuster response, Guardiola implied the agent loathed him but still offered Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to him. Now the question won’t go away.
How would Paul Pogba fare at Manchester City?
Whether the masses want to accept it or not, Paul Pogba is a world-class player. At Juventus, he proved that, and at Manchester United, he’s only shown his true talent in glimpses. On his day, he’s a powerful box-to-box midfielder that transitions well with the ball, has a great passing range and can produce lethal long shots.
It’s well reported that Paul Pogba has had problems with José Mourinho throughout this season. In fact, the Portuguese manager has regularly dropped the Frenchman from starting XIs in the PL and UEFA Champions League. The 55-year-old’s main gripe with the Frenchman is his apparent refusal to follow instructions and lack of defensive nous. However, on Saturday evening, Paul Pogba seemingly shook off all those criticisms and proved he’s still José Mourinho’s star man.
With his side 2-0 down and looking hopeless, Pogba scored two goals in two minutes to set in motion the biggest comeback of the year. Regardless of the epic 3-2 result, Paul Pogba’s career could become much more successful if he moved to the blue side of Manchester.
The amazing thing about Paul Pogba is that he has the exceptional ability to play in a pivot or a midfield three. So, in a two, imagine Paul Pogba next to the defensively sound Fernandinho under the meticulous guidance of Pep Guardiola. We’d see balance, power, pace, midfield dominance and eye of the needle passes.
Now in a midfield three, Pogba could form a revered trio with Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho. KDB is a midfielder who loves to drop deep and control games, meaning Paul Pogba would be given the license to roam free in the midfield third. Due to his in-game intelligence, Pogba could then create 2v1 combo situations to aid KDB in controlling the game.
Knowing how creative and innovative Pep Guardiola is, we’ll most certainly see Pogba in CAM position at City, as Pep would harness Pogba’s power to great effectiveness in the final third. As he proved at the Etihad, Pogba is unstoppable in the final third, especially when he times his runs to perfection.
How would Paul Pogba fare at Manchester City? He’d become the best midfielder in world football, bar none. For Pep Guardiola, he’d have David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, İlkay Gündoğan and Paul Pogba to choose from for midfield options, would there have ever been a complete squad?
