Gary Neville believes Paul Pogba is in the best form of his Manchester United career, but is concerned about the midfielder’s long-term commitment to the club.
The World Cup-winning France international has contributed nine goals and six assists since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as caretaker manager in December, after a troubled start to the season that was overshadowed by his poor relationship with Jose Mourinho.
Old Trafford great Neville applauded the midfielder’s form, but expressed his worry that Pogba could be led astray by his agent Mino Raiola in the future.
‘To be bang honest on Pogba, for two years, for £95m he gave United nowhere near enough in terms of performance levels and contribution,’ Neville told Sky Sports.
‘In the last two or three months he’s playing like the player that, to be fair, was bought for £95m. And he’s an outstanding player when he is playing like he is doing at the moment.
‘If he plays for Manchester United for the next five years at the levels he’s playing now, there will be no one happier than us two [Neville and fellow pundit Nemanja Vidic] watching him out there, because he’s absolutely outstanding.
‘But in the back of my mind, the problems that we witnessed in the first two years will emanate again at some point. Because I think his agent will be into him, he’ll be wanting his little move away, he’ll be wanting his next pay-off, and that’s my problem with it. His commitment to the club has got to be long term.
‘At the moment I love the way he’s playing. He’s brilliant, he’s outstanding. He could tear Liverpool apart on his own today if he makes those runs into the box. But this is only three months of football out of two and a half years, nearly three seasons.
‘So let’s keep it in balance. If he’s playing like this in two years all of us will be saying wonderful, fantastic things.
‘My personal view is his agent will be into him in the next transfer window or two or three, and be saying to him ‘come on, we need to get over to there now. I need to get over to there.’ And that’s my worry with him. Can he be trusted for the long term at the club? We trust him at the moment. Can we trust him for the long term?’