Christian Eriksen could already be a superior player for Manchester United than Paul Pogba

When Manchester United lost Paul Pogba, they will have done so with no little regret, but Christian Eriksen could be a superior player for them. That’s not to say that it wasn’t the right move, for Pogba and the club. They might have left an offer of £300,000-a-week or so on the table in the hopes that the French international would ultimately take the deal.

Ad For France as he won the World Cup, and at Juventus when he won Serie A, and again intermittently at Old Trafford he had shown his exceptional qualities. Technique, long-range passing, an eye for goal from distance plus confidence, he was everything that an increasingly prosaic United midfield needed. World CupPogba facing World Cup fitness race, Allegri expects January return05/09/2022 AT 18:35 That was the Pogba that United needed, but for most of the half-decade he was at the club as a first team player he was, instead, a disappointment.

He spent far too many months on the sidelines, injured. Or on the bench, semi-excommunicated. On the pitch he never appeared to learn that when he put his foot on the ball and dithered in the Premier League, there were plenty of players willing to rob the ball from him.

He might have suffered from poor quality teammates, underwhelming coaches, and being played 20 yards to the right of his ideal position in midfield, but so what? Ronaldo and Sancho score as United cruise to win at FC Sheriff West Ham hold on for win at Silkeborg 'He wanted that so much' — Ten Hag praises Ronaldo and Sancho after Sheriff win For a player of his talents, all these obstacles are not insurmountable, or at least they should not be. The player that United bought never materialised. To be fair to Pogba, the Manchester United he thought he had joined