Manchester United fans won’t appreciate this
Paul Pogba has referred to Turin as his “home” during an interview with RMC Sport ahead of Manchester United’s Champions League match against Juventus.
Pogba began his career with Manchester United before leaving to join Juventus in 2012, only to return to the Manchester club four years later for a fee of £89m.
Despite coming through the United academy, Pogba told RCM: “For me, it’s a pleasure. Turin is my home — that’s where I scored my first professional goal.”
Already a polarising figure among the United fanbase, these comments won’t have won him any new fans at Old Trafford.
He also claimed that he predicted United and Juventus being drawn into the same group: “I expected it, it was mad,” he said. “I’d spoken about it with my brother last summer. I said to him: ‘Imagine we’re in the same group as Juve.”
The World Cup winner remains close with several of his former teammates from his time in Turin, and hailed Andrea Pirlo as a great teacher.
“[Juan] Cuadrado, [Paolo] Dybala, [Leonardo] Bonucci … I hear from them, we speak from time to time. We were a family, so of course we stay in contact,” he said.
“When you’re alongside players like Pirlo, Gigi [Buffon] or [Giorgio] Chiellini, you can only learn.
“Every day, in training, you try to observe them. Even as an established player, you can always learn from those sorts of men.”
Having narrowly missed out on lifting the Champions League trophy in 2015 when Barcelona beat Juventus in the final, Pogba revealed that he thinks about winning the competition.
He might find it difficult to win the most prestigious club competition with Manchester United though, after they were outclassed by his former club last week.
