Quelle surprise. As predictable as Bill Murray waking up to ‘I Got You Babe’, so the first sign we get of a good Paul Pogba performance for Manchester United has been followed by the ‘explosive’ revelation of Mino Raiola that his client – again – wants to leave the club and that it would be best for all parties to accommodate this as soon as practical.

What timing!

It’s almost as if because Patrice Evra’s comment on Sky Sports at the weekend – that Pogba wanted out in the summer – didn’t generate enough attention (because, frankly, nobody cared that much), the garrulous one felt it was time that he graced us all with his presence again.

And oh-ee, look out for those quotes, they’re a doozy! 

“There’s no point beating about the bush,” Raiola said. “It’s better to speak out clearly, look forward and avoid wasting time to find culprits. Paul is unhappy at Man Utd, he can’t manage to express himself like he wants to and like people expect him to.”

Pogba can’t play his natural way. Bing!

“He needs to change team, he needs a change of scenery. He has a contract that will expire in a year and a half, in the summer of 2022, but the best solution for all parties is a transfer in the next (summer) window.”

He needs to move. Bing!

“Otherwise the Old Trafford club, which I have a great relationship with, knows well that they would risk losing him on a free transfer, given that at the moment it’s not the player’s intention to extend the contract. If anybody can’t understand this, then they know little or nothing about football. Anyway, they’re free to direct all the blame to myself if Paul were to leave next summer.”

I’m actually the reasonable middle man, saying this in public only because it’s absolutely  necessary to do so on the eve of an important Champions League game – which I’ve conveniently been able to do following the only time this season Pogba has played well. Bing!

Oh, how standards have fallen.

It shows just how much Pogba’s stock has dropped that this was the time chosen for Raiola to make the remark. The overall contribution to this season has been more penalties conceded than assists and goals combined for Pogba following a 2019/20 campaign that was personally disastrous until the arrival of Bruno Fernandes, which provided a temporary upturn in form but also came with the removal of the smokescreen. No excuses for Fernandes about where to play and how to get the best out of him.

Still, plenty of excuses for Pogba and plenty of sympathy for him. On this week’s Talking Devils podcast with Paddy Barclay I considered that Pogba was a modern day Juan Sebastian Veron, a player with talent who was unable to break into the midfield and establish a place for himself. Only Veron had Keane, Butt and Scholes to contend with, and at the end of a two year spell, despite public comments to the contrary, Sir Alex Ferguson sold his once-record signing for half of that fee to a major rival.

Pogba, meanwhile, has had all the accommodation one could need to feel comfortable and have their ego stroked. An underwhelming first year was softened by the idea that he was being expected to do too much. So Nemanja Matic was brought in to do the defensive work. 

But Matic was a screener and not a carrier of the ball – and Pogba couldn’t be expected to do that either, so Fred was signed to offer an alternative to Ander Herrera after Scott McTominay was brought into the team. None of these midfielders could offer a complementary blend for Pogba to work his Ballon d’Or-worthy magic. In fact all we must presume is that they are so bad that they were responsible for Pogba’s underwhelming second year and he had no accountability.

The good news at the end of that second year was that France still picked him for their World Cup squad and despite an underwhelming tournament, he won with his country and even scored the goal that was effectively the winner in the final.

And so Pogba’s reputation from those two years at United was not sufficiently damaged that the top clubs in Europe wouldn’t be interested. Before Barcelona discovered that they had to be commercially prudent, they offered £45m and Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes for the United man in August 2018.

United, of course, turned the terrible offer down. It was notable that Barcelona felt that this was their ceiling – this a club who were happy to commit £105m to signing Coutinho at the start of that year.

This was a significant fork in the road for United as far as Pogba was concerned. Was he worth more as an asset or as a player? If his value had dropped so dramatically to suitors, then surely it was worth United persisting with him to see if they could get the best out of him. 

This mindset extended to backing the player over the manager of the club, when Jose Mourinho’s blast at his player in front of the squad in the St. Mary’s dressing room in December 2018 was seen as one of the final straws. Clearly there was a school of thought at United that the manager’s poisonous final few months were the reason for Pogba’s indifferent performances.

And so in came a manager happy to inherit a potentially world class player and to build the team around him. It worked for a handful of games and even when United weren’t playing well, Pogba could justifiably say his contribution just about held up to the end of the season, although there was some significant embarrassment in the last few games, particularly against Cardiff in the final league game.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looked forward to his first summer and knew the key issue was to resolve the wage problem caused by Alexis Sanchez. At the same time, Romelu Lukaku was also agitating for a move away. These two big headaches were no closer to being resolved at the end of July when Raiola – in all his traditional reluctance – emerged, undoubtedly reluctantly, to inform the world that he again wanted to move Pogba on.

“Everyone within the club [United] from the manager to the owner knows Paul’s wishes,” Raiola told The Times. “Everyone knows the willingness of Paul to move on. We are in the process of that. Everyone knows what the feelings of Paul are.”

United were in a selling mood. But Raiola wanted something that wasn’t practical – PSG were under scrutiny for their entertaining descriptions of how the Neymar and Mbappe transfers were financially constructed. Real Madrid had already bought all of the players they wanted – and the size of their purchases showed that they had the clout to sign Pogba if they had the intention. Barcelona, meanwhile, were now feeling burnt fingers from the Coutinho deal and instead seemed intent on entering that strange but completely legitimate ‘we’ll swap one of ours for one of yours’ deal with Juventus.

The new season started in difficult fashion. Pogba’s underwhelming form was followed by an ankle injury that the manager received most of the blame for. The injury was significant enough to keep Pogba out for three months but not bad enough to stop him getting on long haul flights or playing basketball.

Pogba’s return came in late December. Just two weeks before the January window. Somebody must have put a gun to Raiola’s head as the agent was again forced against his will to come out and create speculation that was previously non-existent, at the same time rewriting history about the seriousness of Madrid’s interest.

“Paul wants to be successful and happy and wants to win prizes and he would love to do that with Manchester United,” Raiola told The Telegraph in December 2019. “Okay, there was big interest from Real Madrid and Manchester didn’t let him go. We didn’t make a fuss about it and he didn’t make a fuss about it because I work in accordance with the player. You know other players can bring things to extreme but Paul doesn’t like that. So you work differently. There was an interest from Real Madrid but they didn’t let him go and I’m sorry, because I think that Paul being French then Zidane is an important factor in French football history.”

Those with long enough memories to recall Pogba’s stint in United’s youth team will remember his undoubted quality but also his frustrating inconsistency. He would play in one game where his potential seemed as though he was destined to be the best in the world. Then he would put in frustrating performances in the next couple of games and make you question if it was worth the hassle. A talented player at that age is always worth the hassle when it comes to development. United would always see that path out come what may.

But Raiola started to make unreasonable demands – that Pogba should be paid £20,000 a week to sign a new deal despite only a handful of first team performances that hadn’t been overwhelmingly convincing (and that’s not a criticism, that’s just part of the normal process).

When that contract wasn’t forthcoming Raiola was forced to come out and talk to the press. He had no other choice. We don’t know for sure what United offered but we can only presume – considering the wholly reasonable way Pogba’s agent conducts himself – that it wouldn’t have even been enough to put food on the table and clothes on his back. So Raiola talked to the press.

“If it had been an easy choice he would have made it by now,” he said in May 2012. “As things stand it is more likely that he goes away from Manchester. I’m still in Brazil and back on Friday. We will deal with it then. I can only say that from my point of view that Ferguson is top of the world. If he [Pogba] leaves Manchester, it is not because of Ferguson. If Ferguson had not been there, he [Pogba] would have left already. Even in our discussions, hearing from him has been amazing and fascinating. He captures like no other manager the essence of football. My opinion is not far away from how Paul thinks of him.”

Ferguson’s thoughts of Raiola? “Shitbag.” 

”There are one or two football agents I simply do not like,” he wrote in his book Leading. “And Mino Raiola, Paul Pogba’s agent, is one of them. I distrusted him from the moment I met him.”

The fortunes of Pogba and Manchester United in the post-Ferguson years were mixed. Pogba suggested he was on the path to fulfilling that lofty potential at Juventus.

When the two were re-united, it was a marriage of convenience. In the interim years, United’s reputation had taken a hit. Failure to qualify for the Champions League in two years out of three, coupled with Ed Woodward’s inexperience, meant United were at the mercy of agents. Jorge Mendes and Mino Raiola in particular saw opportunities, with the latter making a tidy sum out of Jose Mourinho’s arrival, which brought three Raiola clients to Old Trafford in the first summer. 

For Pogba specifically there was an additional shiny label for the brand – he was the most expensive player in the world. And at that time he was heavily coveted by Real Madrid, then-perennial Champions League winners, so United’s success in the capture was significant. It all appeared cosy and convenient with the idea that Pogba would be playing in Spain come 2019. United of course had other ideas and by that time had changed their manager.

When the first real rumours of an exit were suggested it was brought to public attention by Pep Guardiola in the week before a game against Manchester City in early 2018. Raiola half-denied it. Pogba dyed his hair blue and had an exceptional second half in a memorable 3-2 turnaround that only temporarily denied City being named as Champions.

United finished in second, a distant second, with a significant reason for that being Pogba’s inability to perform consistently. But here he had many making excuses – the players weren’t right. The tactics were negative. He had to play as a number ten, in a midfield two or on the left of a midfield three. He had to be given a free role. And, in the most backhanded of compliments, he couldn’t be played in a deep role because of his tendency to give the ball away. Apparently that is acceptable further up the pitch. Still, those arguments were fairly reasonable, and that is part of the reason why when it came to a conflict between manager and player, Pogba was protected and Mourinho’s outburst was one of a few final straws.

Interestingly in the short-term it seemed as if Raiola had smelled the climate. He knew Real Madrid weren’t going to buy big – or Barcelona. Juventus couldn’t afford him. So there were conciliatory noises about the relationship with United. Perhaps a new contract was on the table? United, feeling the commercial bite in the pandemic, actioned their option to extend Pogba’s contract by a year so Raiola couldn’t hold them to ransom.

It was a rare sound decision – there was not enough justification to demand a huge increase. Not enough serious demand to sign him. Other players are available now. Better players. Younger players.

Leverage is key in negotiations and it is a sad state of affairs for Raiola at the moment when he sees a very good goal against West Ham – weighted against the performances of this season – as the opportune moment to try and hold United to ransom. 

This writer has been happy to give Pogba the benefit of the doubt when it comes to how badly coronavirus must have affected him. But it’s still equally fair to say even at full fitness he is no longer an obvious first choice for United’s most effective midfield.

Yes, it is the manager’s responsibility to get the best out of their players, but it can not be said that every which way has not been laid down for Pogba to get the best out of him. It has never happened on a consistent basis and his defence has been obliterated by the sensational impact made by Bruno Fernandes. 

So it’s quite humorous to observe Raiola follow the Evra comments, which were heading into the abyss, with this desperate attempt to force United’s hand at this time in particular. Yeeeeeesss Mino, we know. We know Paul wants to leave. Yeeeess, we know, it would be better if it was resolved as soon as possible. 

But the prevailing issue with this is that your client’s form has not attracted an offer better than a job lot of Barcelona’s reserves that even the Catalan club would not have expected United to take seriously. And if they did, then, well, how damning for Raiola. That’s how the continent see Pogba – as a risk with potential. At this age!

Pogba’s, and Raiola’s, saving grace is ironically enough the dichotomy at United and the diversity of issues. There is a strong enough element of doubt that he could flourish under a manager not as disciplined as Mourinho or as inexperienced as Solskjaer. 

Anyone managing United’s financial commitment should take this into consideration – would the continued investment be worth it? How likely is it that another four years won’t be just the same as the last four – and would that truly represent value?

Raiola has done this so often that it borders on the ridiculous.  It’s comical.But the timing of it is never innocent and always planned with purpose. It’s never done with positive intentions as far as Manchester United are concerned.

Should United fail to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage, fresh questions will be asked of Solskjaer, and the threat of Pogba’s departure will factor in the discussion. It will be projected as a negative on the manager – that he couldn’t get the best out of the player.

It means we’re at another fork in the road when it comes to how United will deal with this issue. Raiola is as much a part of this as Pogba. What he sees as acting in the best interest for his client is not in the best interest of United and at some point you have to draw the line. 

But you can strip away the drama and say on the four and a half years since his return, it has been an underwhelming transfer if you were to be generous and a mistake if you were to be brutal. It’s time for all parties to sever the link – this agreement could have been made in private. 

The reason it has been made public is either to force United into offering stupid money for a new contract or to tempt a suitor to make a gamble offer which will be lower than market value (whatever that is) due to the contract scenario and then Raiola can do what he can to convince United to take it. It’s precisely this action which underlines the reason why United need this relationship to end as quickly as possible. 

Pogba is not likely to tell his agent that his services are no longer required so that means United have to make the important decision. It will not be an easy decision – aside from the commercial aspect, Pogba is by all accounts a popular player within the United dressing room. And there remains a significant percentage of the support who still believe he will either come good or that more accommodation needs to made for him. 

That’s fine, I’m not saying I’m right or anyone else is wrong, it’s merely my opinion that the time has come for Pogba to move on (that time was probably last summer, but nobody really wanted to take the chance) and more pertinently Raiola’s latest comments to the press show it’s definitely the time to end this relationship and ensure they are working with him for not one minute longer than necessary. 

It was a marriage of convenience but usually when that is the case, the divorce is acrimonious, and United would be best served to deal with it swiftly this time.

You could go as far as to say that the day Raiola is no longer associated with United will be a significant one in terms of United moving to a better place as a club overall.

As much as United are paying the price for bad managerial positions and bad signings on the pitch, they have continued to do so off the pitch, and ending the association with Raiola as quickly as possible has to be in the best interest of the club.