The Paul Pogba story has been anything but what the tabloids predicted a couple of seasons ago. His first touch on his return in a United t-shirt was absolutely horrendous and probably that was the good ol’ omens telling us that everything was not just to be all Rosy for the new Red Devil.
And that was actually what seems to have happened to the world’s once most expensive player. He reportedly cost United near to €110mil when the French midfielder returned to his boyhood club after a successful stint at Juventus among much fanfare. Although he continues to remain a fan-favourite at the Stretford End, his performance has been highly erratic. Some nights he is an absolute Beast on the pitch winning the 50/50 tackles and marshalling the midfield like a seasoned veteran while on other nights he simply looks uninterested and his work-rate and efficiency drops down dizzyingly.
Jose Mourinho has not helped the matters either as he continuously deployed PaulPogba in a 2 man deep-lying midfield alongside Matic in a 4-2-3-1 formation with the Frenchman making it absolutely clear that he is most comfortable while playing on the left side of a midfield three in a 4-3-3. However, the Portuguese coach did not relent and even called out Pogba to be more efficient off the ball and the pair had a fall-out in a humiliating 2-0 loss to Tottenham.
3 Sergej Milinković-Savić
Currently, the most sought-after talent in the whole of Europe is being touted as the perfect replacement should the World-Cup winning Frenchman decides to leave. He has been the midfield maestro for Lazio as helped the Italian team finish 5th in Serie A as they just missed out on a Champions League spot due to their Head-to-Head record against Inter.
The 23-year-old finished the season strongly as he scored a whopping 12 goals and assisted 4 times in 35 appearances for Lazio as he played the catalyst in the Italian side for a Champions League Spot. He also shined in Lazio’s European travels in the Europa League as he scored 2 beautiful goals and assisted another 3 goals.
2 Adrien Rabiot
The French midfielder will also be a suitable replacement for his compatriot. The PSG starlet has been on United’s radar for quite some time now with the Manchester club trying to hire his services under Louis Van Gaal’s stewardship only for Rabiot to turn them down and sign a new deal with PSG.
Since then he has been a constant presence in the PSG side and has made himself a fan-favourite at Parc-des-Princes despite the presence of superstars such as Neymar, Cavani, Mbappe, Draxler among others. The holding midfielder finished the season with 5 goals and 7 assists in all competitions as he helped PSG to storm to a domestic treble.
1 Toni Kroos
There will be a huge uproar should the Stretford End witness their most influential player in Pogba leave the Carrington Training Centre – Once Again. And as Florentino Perez has time and again showed that the best way to placate anguished fans is by signing a Galactico.
Toni Kroos fits the bill perfectly. At only 28 years the world-cup winning midfielder has proven time and again why he is considered the BEST in his position and what a huge Pep Guardiola made when he sold the German to Real Madrid. He finished the 2017/18 campaign with 5 goals and 10 assists including 3 assists in the Champions League as the German Wizard guided Real to a third consecutive victory in Europe’s most elite competition.