Manchester United

Paul Pogba urges fans to stop judging him on transfer fee and goal return

By Giuseppe Labellarte, ReporterPublished: 12 April 2017 10:00 PM

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba believes that his "mountain" transfer fee has led to unrealistic expectations and wants critics to forget about his price tag.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has urged critics to forget his transfer fee and to remember that he is a midfielder whose primary role is to "make the game".

The 24-year-old, who left the Red Devils for Juventus in 2012, returned to Old Trafford last summer as the world's most expensive player in a £93.25m deal.

However, Pogba has received criticism by some fans who believe that he has not justified his price over the course of the season, and he has expressed his frustration at the way his performances are scrutinised.

"The people are looking at me," the Frenchman, who has scored seven goals in all competitions this season, told a press conference on Wednesday. "They judge me for not scoring goals and stuff like this. If I was scoring goals, the people wouldn't talk like this but it's football.

"We can forget about the transfer fee. It's in the past. The transfer is something else, on the pitch is something else.

"I am doing a job. I am a midfield player and people think sometimes I'm an attacking player. When I give some assists to people and we don't score it can happen, nobody talks about this - but it's fine because they want me to score goals because of the mountain of the transfer.

"People are looking me saying 'Pogba should score goals', 'Pogba should do this' - I think you are putting me like as a striker, defender and midfielder. But my job is to be a midfielder, make the game, do some assists and everything."

Up next for Man United is their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Anderlecht in Belgium on Thursday.