Pogba: My mum always knew I’d come back to Man Utd
Paul Pogba says his mother always told him he would go back to Manchester United after initially leaving for Juventus in 2012.
Pogba joined United from Le Havre as a youngster and earned rave reviews in the club’s youth ranks and reserves, before eventually earning a handful of opportunities with Alex Ferguson’s senior side.
But chances with the first team were not as frequent as Pogba might have wished, and when an offer from Juve arrived in 2012, he left United on a free transfer.
Pogba quickly established himself in Juve’s senior side and, by his second season, was a key player in the starting XI.
But after four years in Turin, United – in need of fresh ideas in midfield – secured Pogba’s return, paying a then-world record transfer fee of £89million to bring him back to Old Trafford.
Speaking on the UTD Podcast, Pogba said: “My mother always told me: ‘You will go somewhere but come back.’ She always said this.
“I was like: ‘We will see.’ But you know mothers, and the things she said: ‘You will come back here, don’t worry.’ And that was just after [leaving]. She said: ‘You will come back to Manchester, don’t worry.’ And I did.
“When I came back, I was really happy to come back. I left it and didn’t finish. I started something but I didn’t finish, I just went somewhere else. Obviously, coming back to where I started was, for me, why I was really happy. Now, I was ready to come as a confirmed player, not a youth player.”
Despite returning to United, speculation relating to his future has often lingered in the background, particularly in the past year with both Pogba and his agent Mino Raiola suggesting the France international wants to leave again.
Some fans have grown frustrated with him because of the situation, but he sees himself as a dreamer who will always desire more.
“My parents came from Africa to get to France and worked hard for me,” he began when asked about his self-belief. “I think, as a kid, you don’t really know but [with] my mum, there used to be five in the house, and it’s hard for a mother.
“You have to feed them and have to be there for them and everything. She works hard to help us, you know.
“For us, so we have everything, because of her, so I have to work 10 times harder and it’s something I always have in my mind. My dad as well. To be the best, the first, to always want more.
“When you have a dream, just go for it. A dream is free. You wake up after a dream but, at least when you dream, you can dream as big as you want.
“You still dream and want to achieve it. What my goals are, I always want more, we can always learn at this age or 10 or even 40 or 50.
“You will always learn something. I love to learn new things. I love to try things and stuff.”
