This isn’t one bit surprising.
Nemanja Vidic has revealed how Paul Scholes treated Paul Pogba in training back when the trio were at Manchester United together. Vidic and Scholes were senior players, who had won everything, and Pogba was a talented youngster when he was called up to train with the first-team.
The French midfielder joined United from Le Harve in 2009 when he was 16.
He would make seven first-team appearances in the 2011/12 season before leaving for Juventus after growing disillusioned with the lack of playing time at Old Trafford.
The 25-year-old rejoined United for a world record fee in 2016, and no longer has to worry about receiving some rough treatment from Scholes in training.
According to Vidic, the former United midfielder would kick and be rough with Pogba when he stepped up to train with the first team.
“Paul was only 17 and already as physically strong as he is now, with a very good physique,” Vidic told ESPN.
“Paul Scholes would kick him and test him, just as he did when I arrived. Scholes was showing the will to win, showing that we were not friends kicking the ball about, but that we trained tough and strong, as if we were in matches. It was: ‘You kick me and I kick you’. We fought every day and didn’t need to switch on for a game because we were always switched on.”
Vidic said Scholes’ treatment of Pogba was typical of the footballers he played alongside for United.
“United had a lot of players like that, who were so competitive. That meant we were better prepared, even more than some of the best teams, who had great players but not the same drive to win. We’d go to games in Europe, or to Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool and not fear anybody.”
