Rio Ferdinand has pinpointed the 'weird' way Manchester United treated Paul Pogba while he was at Old Trafford, claiming it was strange that United's managers never tried to build the team around him.
Pogba will leave the Reds at the end of this month to join Juventus following a six-year second spell in Manchester. During that time he struggled to live up to his £89million price tag - a world-record fee at the time he signed.
A Europa League success was the best United could muster during Pogba's time back in Manchester and that led to criticism from supporters. However, this was ramped up further in recent weeks following actions from the Frenchman.
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In his last appearance for United at the Theatre of Dreams, Pogba cupped his ear to home supporters who were chanting for him to 'f*** off'. Meanwhile in his Pogmentary series on Amazon, the 29-year-old accused United of not caring about him despite offering him a new contract worth in excess of £290,000-a-week.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, United great Ferdinand conceded that his former club should take some of the responsibility for his failure as Pogba nears a move back to Juventus. He said: "This chapter (back at Juventus) is going to be so important for him because I think if we asked Paul Pogba right now, 'did it go as you planned it? Did it go as well as you wanted it to go? Was it a success?' I think he’d say no at Manchester United.
"Yes, he won the Europa League but Paul Pogba, I know him, wants to win the Champions League, wants to win the Premier League, at least wants to be in contention but he wasn’t. He didn’t manage to gain any consistency for Manchester United, there were a few standout performances, a few standout goals here and there but I know what Paul’s like and he wants to be considered the best in the world or one of at least. He never really got to that stage. Now, the question is why?
"I think he has to take responsibility for a lot of it but I think the club need to do that. I think sometimes it’s about timing, he came to Manchester United at a time when they were in transition, things weren’t perfect behind the scenes, the structure of the club wasn’t great, recruitment wasn’t great and I think the other components put around him didn’t suit him.
"The thing that is weird for me, when you spend £90m, break the record for a player, you’d normally think you’d build around that player and I don’t think he probably had that. I’m not trying to make excuses for him, I feel like you need everything to fall into place if you’re going to be a success.
"You need yourself to be consistent, to be durable, to be disciplined, to go out there and perform to your best capabilities but you also need your foundations and the fundamentals of the team structure to be in place to help you."
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