Nicky Butt has urged Paul Pogba to show patience and trust in Sir Alex, as the young midfielder makes up his mind as to where his future lies.
Pogba has seen his playing time increase recently, getting minutes in our last 3 games but a little while ago he dropped off the first team radar, apparently sent to train on his own.
The midfielder is being coveted by a number of teams with Juventus leading the pack and with his agent doing his best to shop him around, it was believed the midfielder was on his was to Turin.
But Sky Sports recently reported that he had agreed a new deal and although we still await official word from the club, his inclusion in the first team again leads you to believe that things have taken a turn for the positive.
United understand the potential Pogba has so this is encouraging, something mirrored by former midfielder Nicky Butt. Butt also won the FAYC and was one of ‘Fergie’s Fledglings’ who went on to provide the spine of a United team that would dominate Eglish football.
Speaking to the M.E.N, Butt said:
“Pogba was built up as the next big thing. He’s had comparisons with a great player like Patrick Vieira. That can go to your head easily.
“Because of all that he might think he should be in United’s first team now. There were some midfield difficulties before Scholesy came out of retirement and he may have thought he could answer them.
“When you are a kid you have no fear and you think you can take on the world. There is nothing wrong with that in a lot of ways. In fact, the manager would like that confidence. But Sir Alex knows all the pitfalls. He’s nurtured us all through it.
“He is very protective and sees things the player doesn’t at that age. You might feel you are ready and should be in there but if you are thrown in then too many pitfalls can kill your confidence.
“Nobody knows how to deal with that better than the boss.”
He needs to hurry up and sign a new contract now. He is taking too long to commit his future. I’m sure Ferguson is thinking about his transfer plans and will want to know about Paul Pogba situation. If he signs then we may just look for a creative play-maker like Nicolas Gaitan or Eden Hazard. We can then push Pogba onto the first team and compete along with Cleverley, Carrick, Anderson, Scholes, Giggs and maybe Fletcher for centre of midfield.
I think David Gill may have started to engineer the moves for the summer. It looks like we might be concluding a deal for Nathaniel Clyne for £2.5 million. I think its a good signing as he is only 20 and has played over a 100 games for Palace. He is English as well which adds to the young England talent we have, and we need to strengthen the full back area. I think Zeki Fryers will be pushed into the first team to challenge Evra and give us another option in defence.
Its possible we may have started talks with Benfica for Nicolas Gaitan. Reports in Portugal are saying we are offering over £20 million. Hopefully a deal can be reached as he will add a lot to the team. We will need to alter for him but we could do with a new variation in our play. Berbatov and Owen will leave and so we will go into next season with 3 strikers, and someone like Gaitan to play off one of the strikers.