Man Utd: Paul Pogba return backed as ‘special’ £86m flop ‘perfect’ for Arsenal can replace ‘lost’ star

Manchester United have been urged to re-sign France international Paul Pogba as he is going to be “super motivated” when he returns from his doping ban.

The 31-year-old progressed through the ranks at Man Utd but left the Premier League giants after butting heads with Sir Alex Ferguson.

After deciding against renewing his contract, Pogba joined Juventus on a free transfer and reached his potential for the Italian giants.

The Frenchman’s form for Juventus tempted Man Utd to re-sign him in 2016 for around £86m. He proved to be a flop at Old Trafford as his poor attitude and several controversies led to him returning to the Serie A side on a free transfer in 2022.

Pogba’s career trajectory did not take an upturn after returning to Juventus as his second spell at the club has been disastrous.

The 31-year-old missed the majority of the 2022/23 campaign due to injury. Then at the start of this year, he was given a four-year doping ban as a positive test found he had a non-endogenous testosterone in his system.

Pogba appealed this verdict and had his ban reduced to 18 months. This means he will be free to resume training in January 2025 and play in March 2025.

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Subsequently, it’s been reported that Juventus are letting Pogba leave, and he’s expected to secure a move elsewhere in January.

Premier League clubs are being mooted as possible destinations and Emmanuel Petit has explained why he would be “perfect” for Arsenal.

“Honestly, Arsenal should gamble on signing Paul Pogba. He will give everything on the pitch. It will take him a few weeks to get fully fit, but he will be so eager to wash his name.

“There is a motivation that is priceless to a manager like Mikel Arteta. Pogba fits the Arsenal midfield perfectly, he’s tall, strong and very creative.

“We all know how good a happy Pogba is, he needs love and to be given confidence, I think Arteta and Arsenal can offer this to him.”

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Ex-Man Utd forward Louis Saha has encouraged his former club to re-sign Pogba again as he’d “love to see him” back at Old Trafford.

“Paul Pogba can go wherever he wants. If he’s given the platform to show his talent again, people will be reminded of how special he is,” Saha said.

“He can play in the Champions League; he can play for France and I’m a big fan of his. I’ve always been harsh on him because when you have that talent, you have a responsibility.

“He’s going to be super motivated when he comes back. I would love to see him at Manchester United because when you look at their midfield, they have lost Scott McTominay which is a loss because he contributed to the team well.

“When you look at how things went with previous managers and try to understand what happened, you see that there were mistakes that have been made – and letting Pogba go was a sign that things are difficult to manage at Manchester United.

“It wasn’t just an Erik ten Hag problem, several very talented players struggled with the club’s transition.

“There were problems with Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and even Marcus Rashford in some way. All those things need to stop and hopefully their signings can perform the way they should be performing.”