Paul Pogba ‘can do absolutely everything’ and boasts many of the traits that made Steven Gerrard a Liverpool legend, claims Manchester United icon Paul Scholes.
A France international on the books at Old Trafford has attracted plenty of criticism since completing a record-setting £89 million ($110m) return to England in the summer of 2016.
Rather than becoming the talismanic presence that the Red Devils hoped he would be, Pogba is considered to be a divisive figure who has fallen short of expectations.
He is now a World Cup winner and one of the most recognisable players on the planet, but questions of his form, fitness and future are never far away.
Scholes, though, remains a big fan of a midfielder he played alongside when Pogba first broke into the senior fold at United under Sir Alex Ferguson.
The ex-England international believes the 27-year-old is capable of more than he has shown over recent years, with obvious comparisons to be made with Liverpool great Gerrard.
Scholes told United’s official podcast: ‘I played a bit with Paul and everyone knows the talent he’s got.
‘He’s been brilliant for Juventus, brilliant for France in the World Cup and really good at times here [at United ] as well.
‘He can do everything as a midfield player and you’d probably liken him to Steven Gerrard with the pace, the power, the skill. He can do absolutely everything.’
Pogba recently revealed that he feels many important lessons were taken from the time he spent working with Scholes, as well as Juventus star Andrea Pirlo during a productive spell in Italy.
He said: ‘You learn a lot and you look at them.
‘I really learned and have been learning. It was unbelievable for me, seeing them training like that, and it pushed me.
‘OK, I have to work hard and have a lot more to do. Pirlo and Scholes, those are midfielders who control the game, the players to look at, and I learned from them, a lot.
‘I started as a striker and then a No 10 and then a No 6. Thank God, I didn’t go to centre back! It was because I wanted to touch the ball too much.’
Pogba has been unable to showcase his talent as much as he and United had been hoping in 2019-20, with injury restricting him to just eight appearances, but he is ‘hungry’ to return to action and expects to be raring to go when football resumes after the coronavirus lockdown.