Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has suggested he was ‘half the reason’ Paul Pogba departed the club for Juventus back in 2012.
Pogba had been earmarked as a potential superstar in the making while earning rave reviews in United’s academy having joined the Red Devils from Le Havre aged just 16.
Sir Alex Ferguson would go on to hand Pogba his senior debut in United’s League Cup third-round victory over bitter rivals Leeds in September 2011, with the Frenchman coming on as a second-half substitute for Ryan Giggs at Elland Road.
But at the start of the 2011/12 campaign, Ferguson claimed Pogba’s camp were threatening to force a transfer move unless he was fast-tracked into being a first-team regular.
Get personalised updates on your favourite club
Sign up to our daily football newsletter, pick your team and get the latest news sent directly to your inbox every morning.
And just 12 months later, it was confirmed that Pogba had decided to call it quits after a contract renewal had not been reached, with Ferguson accusing the midfielder of ‘disrespecting’ the club.
Pogba would, of course, return to the Theatre of Dreams from Juventus for a then world-record transfer fee of £89million in the summer of 2016, going on to win the Europa League and the Carabao Cup in his second spell in the north west.
The 33-year-old World Cup winner now finds himself without a team after his deal was terminated with Monaco, though, his first club following a doping suspension.
Scholes was often an outspoken critic of Pogba during his second stint at United, at one stage accusing the France international of being ‘away with the fairies’.
And in the latest instalment of The Good, The Bad & The Football, the iconic ex-United and England midfielder revealed how he was ‘partly responsible’ for Pogba bringing his first Old Trafford spell to a halt.
After darts sensation Luke Littler, a guest on the podcast, had named Pogba in his all-time United XI, Scholes replied: ‘Ah Pogba, yeah, good shout!
‘Do you know what? I was half the reason he left the first time.
‘I retired when I was 36 and then I came back, and Paul [Pogba] was just coming through.
‘So I think he expected to play because I came back and in January we had no midfielders left, we were playing Rafael da Silva and Phil Jones in central midfield.
‘Paul was the next kid coming up, he was 17, I was training against him every day, and he thought he should have been playing.
‘I came back and started playing every week and then his agent turned down deals and stuff and that’s why he left I think. So I’m partly responsible!’
Later on in the podcast, Scholes and Littler exchanged their thoughts on Alejandro Garnacho, who swapped United for Chelsea in 2025 having once been held up as a youth-team sensation much like Pogba.
‘I always quite liked him,’ Scholes said of the Argentina winger, who left Chelsea to join Aston Villa on a season-long loan this summer.
‘Look, he wasn’t playing in a great United team and he was always a threat. He looked like he was going to score goals, he ran through.
‘I always thought his attitude was a little bit suspect, he looked like a cocky kid, coming out with his earrings and stuff like that… I’m not having that.’
Switching his focus to United’s current squad, the 11-time Premier League winner pulled no punches when it came to Michael Carrick’s defensive options – or lack of.
‘We’ve had that backline for five years,’ Scholes said.
‘We’ve not been good enough for five years, so it’s not going to be any better now.
‘Definitely, a new back four is needed. Maybe a goalkeeper.’
United have endured a desperately disappointing start to the new season and are languishing down in 12th in the Premier League table with just five points to their name.
It took a last-gasp strike from Matheus Cunha to rescue the Red Devils from losing a third match on the bounce in all competitions before the international break.
Carrick’s men will look to get back to winning ways when they return to top-flight action at home to bottom-placed Tottenham on Saturday.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.