Paul Ince has weighed in on the row surrounding Paul Pogba and his agent
Paul Scholes was extremely critical of Paul Pogba’s performance against Brighton on Sunday afternoon, ripping into his lack of leadership on the field.
“We thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn’t there today. He had another really poor game. He’s so inconsistent,” Scholes said.
Pogba’s agent, Mino Raiola, leapt to his client’s defence this morning and launched an attack on Scholes via the medium of Twitter, famously an excellent platform for nuanced debate.
Raiola tweeted: “Some people need to talk for fear of being forgotten. Paul Scholes wouldn’t recognise a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill.”
Some people need to talk for fear of being forgotten. Paul Scholes wouldn’t recognize a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill. @paulpogba
— RAIOLA (@MinoRaiola) August 21, 2018
And he didn’t stop there. He continued his Twitter rant by sarcastically saying there would be “sleepless nights trying to find a new club” if Manchester United decided to sell Pogba.
Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba. Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club @paulpogba
— RAIOLA (@MinoRaiola) August 21, 2018
Since Raiola’s Twitter tirade, former United midfielder, Paul Ince, has defender his former teammate Scholes, saying Raiola needs to “grow up”.
“Hearing that Mino Raiola has criticised Paul Scholes is an interesting one – who is he to criticise him? He was an unbelievable player, and a leader despite the fact he didn’t speak much,” Ince told Paddy Power News.
“I appreciate that times and mentalities have changed since I was a player, but the fact is the agent’s job is to get a player a club and make sure he’s happy – not to get involved with what pundits say,” he added.
“I doubt it will bother Scholesy much. He’s a pundit paid to give his opinion, but Raiola needs to grow up and stay out of it.
“Even so, his actions have just proved that this Paul Pogba situation needs nipping in the bud. I’m not sure whether this is a case of him telling Raiola to tweet that, or whether he’s done it of his own accord, but Pogba needs to put this straight and get fans back onside.
“He’s not yet come out and said he wants to leave, but if he actually wants to stay, he needs to say that publicly rather than creating a media storm every other day. There are enough issues at Manchester United without Raiola getting involved.”
Pogba’s fractious relationship with José Mourinho seems to have had a detrimental effect on the team’s performances, but if it is a battle between those two, there is only going to be one winner.
