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Paul Pogba finding his feet in the Premier League

David Nugent in Editorial, English Premier League 2 Jan 2017

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France international midfielder Paul Pogba’s form has been increasingly influential in recent games

Manchester United’s world-record signing Paul Pogba looks like he is now finding his feet in the Premier League.

A big price tag guarantees scrutiny and Pogba has struggled to live up to his price tag of £89.3million at times.

However, in the last few games, there have been signs that Pogba may now be adjusting to life in the Premier League after spending the last few years dominating midfield opposition for Juventus.

Becoming increasingly influential

In Manchester United’s last game he scored a late winner in a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough. It was not the only time he has had a big influence on a game in recent weeks. Pogba now has scored twice and produced two assists in his last four appearances.

Those stats are not fantastic by any stretch of the imagination. However, they show that he is getting back to what he does best, giving opposition defences problems. Pogba is a player that can play as a defensive midfielder, a box-to-box midfielder and an attacking midfielder.

For me, he is at his best when he is driving forward and getting into the box. He has all the attributes to be a top attacking midfielder and time is on his side at just 23 years of age. If Pogba is selected to play a deeper role he can, but it is a waste of a very potent attacking weapon and as he develops he looks likely to play in a more advanced role.

Still relatively young and only human

At 23-years of age, he is still relatively young. The midfielder may be highly confident in his own ability, but he is only human. The midfielder will need time to settle at United. He is in his second spell at the club, but his first stint the midfielder made just three league appearances for the Red Devils.

He barely featured in the first team in that short spell despite the fact that even then he was regarded as one of the brightest young players in the European game. Pogba moved to Juventus as a bright prospect, but he returned as a player who was supposed to be the finished article.

No matter how confident you are the massive fee has to affect a player’s game. Pogba did not decide his fee. However, he has to try and justify the outlay on him by his new club. He arrived with huge pressure to succeed and obviously needed time to adjust from Italian football to the English game.

The French international looks to be slowly but surely coming to terms with the pace and the scrutiny on him in the English game.

Much more to come from Pogba

Paul Pogba became a world star at Juventus and at times took games by the scruff of the neck. The midfielder has not quite got to that point at United just yet. His performances have improved of late, but you get the sense that there is much more to come from the midfielder.

United’s main aim now is to finish in the top-four, which they are odds of 6/5 to achieve this season. They are currently sixth in the table and three points behind Tottenham who currently occupy fourth spot in the table. At 13 points behind league leaders Chelsea, a challenge for the title looks highly unlikely this season

An in-form Paul Pogba would definitely aid their efforts to record a Champions League spot, though. Then maybe next season the Red Devils can challenge for the Premier League title. Next season the French midfielder will have a whole season of English football under his belt.

Pogba is showing signs of fulfilling his potential at United. He may have taken some time to resettle at the Red Devils. However, Paul Pogba now looks to be finding his very expensive feet and will only improve with more playing time in the English top-flight.

Is Paul Pogba starting to show his best form at Manchester United?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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