Paul Pogba says the ‘unbelievable’ experience of learning from Paul Scholes and Andrea Pirlo helped him to become a top-class midfielder.

The France star made his Premier League debut for Manchester United in 2012 alongside Scholes at the heart of midfield, the year in which he left for Juve on a free transfer.

Pogba made only seven total appearances during his lone season with the Manchester United first team, but immediately became a regular in Juventus’ midfield upon his arrival in Serie A.

Winning three consecutive Serie A titles alongside Pirlo in Turin was a further positive experience for Pogba before he returned to Old Trafford in 2016 as a player recognised as one of the best midfielders in the world.

The 27-year-old says playing and training with such cultured midfielders helped him to develop after he spent part of his youth career as a centre forward, crediting Pirlo and Scholes for helping teach him how to control a game from the centre of the field.

‘You learn a lot and you look at them,’ Pogba told the UTD Podcast. ‘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.

‘I was the striker and dropping too much, so one coach told me: “OK, play the No 10 and touch the ball more.” I still loved the ball too much and had too many touches, so he put me at No 6.’

Pogba had been close to returning to first-team action when the English season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He has made only eight appearances for United in 2019-20 because of foot and ankle injury problems after making 47 appearances for the club during the 2018-19 campaign.