Paul Pogba has lifted the lid on why he walked away from Manchester United in 2012, with the Frenchman admitting to being left “heartbroken” by a lack of trust from Sir Alex Ferguson.
Having stepped out of a famed academy system at Old Trafford, an all-action midfielder was expected to star for the Red Devils over the course of many years.
He was, however, to snub the offer of a new contract and take on a new challenge in Italy with Serie A giants Juventus.
Four seasons were spent in Turin before returning to England in 2016 – with Jose Mourinho then at the United helm – with Pogba of the opinion that he needed to prove himself elsewhere after being overlooked by Ferguson.
The France international told United’s official podcast on why he walked away: “It was a very difficult decision for me, with the manager as well and everything with the contract.
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“It wasn’t the contract but more like the trust with the manager. Obviously, the manager, for me, is still the best manager in history. When they asked me to sign the contract, if I didn’t sign, a lot of things happened. I didn’t train, I went back to training by myself and stuff like this.
“It made me a bit angry and was nothing about the money. It’s just about you’re a player, we believe in you, you believe in you and, me, I just want to play football. That is all I want. I want to play.
“When I had, like I’ve said before, the chance to play or to come on in this game against Blackburn, that’s when really I had heartbreak. There was no midfield here – people were injured, [Paul] Scholes wasn’t there, I think he’d retired already and it was before he came back. Rafael played in midfield with Ji-sung Park and I didn’t come on in this game. We lost the game.
“I was on the bench warming up and I thought I would come on and it was a big opportunity for me. I didn’t and things happen. The manager has a choice in everything but that day is when I had my heart broken. I told Pat [Evra] that was the chance, I’d been training with him and he’d been talking to me and saying I would have a chance. But that happened, I didn’t play and I was kind of upset.
“So I went to Juventus, which was a hard decision for me. Hard because it was going to another club as well where I was obviously not as one of the starting XI but I’ve got to come as a young player. A young, talented player and you have to show yourself again. I went and it was a big challenge for me. I said: 'Go for it, no problem. I want to show I am ready to play for the team'.”
Pogba jumped at the chance to return to Old Trafford in an £89 million ($112m) deal and, despite facing plenty of criticism during a second stint with United, claims he has never had to think twice about linking up with the Red Devils.
He could have stayed in France as a youngster, with Lyon keen, but headed to England instead and considers himself fortunate to have had two bites of an illustrious cherry.
Quizzed on how tough it was to leave his homeland, Pogba added: “Easy. It’s Manchester United. To be honest, I was about to sign at Lyon so they wanted me to sign professional but, because I say it, people used to talk to me and say: 'Don’t go. Don’t go outside. It’s going to be difficult. Stay in France'. I said: 'No, they’re the biggest club in the world. This comes only once in our life'. I took it. Well, it came twice for me, yes that’s true!”