The day Euro 2016 kicked off, Paul Pogba’s youthful face featured on the front page of L’Equipe, flanked by pictures of France’s all-time greats Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane.
It was the French sports daily’s way of illustrating just how much the host nation was expecting from the 23-year-old midfielder — maybe too much.
A couple of weeks later and Pogba has shown only glimpses of his talent on the pitches of France, with some people starting to wonder whether he was worth all the hype.
“Is Pogba the world’s most over-rated player?”, former England captain turned pundit Gary Lineker tweeted after Pogba again looked ordinary in France’s laboured 2-1 win over Ireland for a place in the quarterfinals.
It was a different story at the start of the year when Pogba humbly took his mother, Yeo, to a glitzy Fifa gala. Wearing a flashy, gold-flowered jacket, the Juventus player looked proud to feature in the governing body’s World XI alongside players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Pogba was fresh from a scintillating season in which he had scored 10 goals to help Juventus win a domestic double and go all the way to the Champions League final, his heroics earning him the right to be granted the number 10 shirt once graced by Platini.
“I have played with some great young players but Pogba is the best young player I have ever seen,” former Juventus and Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo said at the time.
Unlike Platini or Zidane, Pogba in not a true playmaker, and nor is he a genuine defensive midfielder. Similar in many ways to Patrick Vieira, fondly remembered by France and Arsenal fans, he needs space to express his rare mix of athleticism and skills to the full.
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