firstly, his potential was never in doubt, he was promoted to training with the first team for a reason. the players in the dressing room knew he was good. he was on the cusp of making his breakthrough.

You're trying to make it sound ridiculous that a 17 year old could be impressive for a Premier League team when that is patently untrue. Look at Wayne Rooney for god's sake, or more recent examples such as Sterling or Shaw. These players are special, they'll probably become world class barring injuries, and they're not the same as most youth players who need longer before getting starts in the league.

stop putting words in my mouth and read what i said.

at 17 going on 18, worrying about not getting into the first team? do you know how ridiculous that sounds? looking at Man Utd's midfield, he should have known that he just needed to bide his time until the end of the season.

there was no need to rush him into first team action. Ferguson doesn't play youth players unless he thinks they have potential. Pogba was impatient and wanted to play more straight away. he took a gamble leaving (and his agent got a nice million+ paycheck) and it paid off, fair play to him.

‘Against Blackburn, on December 31, 2011, I was on the bench. Ferguson puts Rafael in midfield with Ji Sung Park. Then I gave up. I was really bummed.’

Ferguson values players with the right mentality (right as in Fergie's way) as well as ability. he has always put the club above any player, no matter how good they are, to a fault.

Ravel Morrison is not in Pogba's class either, not even close, Morrison is in sporadic form for West Ham, Pogba is bossing Serie A. You basically treated Pogba like any other promising youth player, when in fact you had a world class player on your hands that was frustrated at getting no serious game time.

such easy statements to make now isn't it?

Ravel Morrison was rated as one of the best youth prospects (as shown in his performances for the youth teams and reserves) signed by SAF when he was 14 but he had disciplinary problems that Ferguson didn't like.

SAM ALLARDYCE still remembers the conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson two years ago that led to him signing Ravel Morrison: if you can sort this lad out, he was told, you’ll have one of the best players you’ve ever had.

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Like I said, giving him some starts at home to bottom half teams, alongside Carrick or Scholes, at the expense of Anderson (made 8 league starts), Cleverley (made 5 league starts) or Darron Gibson (made 1 league start) would've been perfectly fine. You look at it through a broad view and sure you could argue he was impatient but look at the players who got starts ahead of him, then you'd see why he should've had games and why he became disillusioned.

on hindsight, it's easy to say Pogba should have started more games, but not even fans who followed the youth and reserve teams were questioning SAF's decision not to play him more. most were happy that he was training/integrating with the first team and getting a few minutes here and there.

his impact at Juventus so soon was a big surprise to many. fact is, if you've actually watched his games for Man Utd, you could tell he was still very raw. talented but still finding his feet.

additionally, Cleverley was another youngster who was older and looked promising. he had also finished a whole season on loan at Wigan in the PL, he fully justified being given his chances. it's easy to dismiss Cleverley since he's going through a bad patch but he's still a good player.

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on a sidenote, i think the move to Juventus was perfect for Pogba as their system allows him to flourish. i don't think he'd have this much of an immediate impact if he had stayed.

Juve play a 3-5-2 with wingbacks and 3 central midfielders (Vidal/Pogba/Pirlo/Marchisio) so there is less pressure on the midfielders and more support since they often outnumber that area. United's traditional system puts a lot of emphasis on the 2 central midfielders to be able to keep possession and distribute it.