Having missed Manchester United's previous five Premier League games due to injury, non-selection and the death of his father, Paul Pogba made his 50th appearance of the season in Sunday's 2-0 home win against Crystal Palace. No United player has played more matches or more minutes in a marathon 63-game season.

Ahead of Wednesday's Europa League final against Ajax in Stockholm, Jose Mourinho rested many regular starters against Palace. But the manager knew Pogba needed some minutes, while also hoping that the midfielder wouldn't get injured.

Mourinho called his selection correctly. Not only did several young players perform well and Josh Harrop, who is the son of a match-going United fan from Stockport, score a wonderful goal on his debut, but Pogba showed no sign of rustiness in 44 minutes of action.

The 24-year-old was the stand-out figure, setting up Harrop's goal with a forward pass using the outside of his right foot. Four minutes later, Pogba scored himself, finishing with his left foot after being set up by Jesse Lingard. The subsequent celebration was in honour of his father, who passed away recently..

The lazy line with Pogba is to say that, at 89 million, United overpaid; former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer, now a pundit on British TV, described him as "a flop" on Sunday. But those expecting the world's most expensive player to play like the world's best player in his first season at a new club, especially one that is undergoing transition, were hoping for too much.

Pogba wasn't walking into a winning machine as he did when he joined Juventus, or when Cristiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid or Lionel Messi broke into Barcelona's first team. He joined a team undergoing a reconstruction, something United actually used as a positive when they were trying to sign him a year ago.

Then, the Old Trafford club worked hard to beat Real Madrid and tempt Pogba to a club that wasn't to be playing Champions League football this season. United accentuated their positives, specifically that they'd not only pay him more than would Madrid, but they'd build the team around him.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward explained that, rather than being one of several stars and behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the pecking order, at Old Trafford Pogba would be the main man: A big fish in a big pond. To prove the point, the club even showed him social media interactions, which demonstrated that links of him to United dwarfed mentions of him going to Spain.

Juventus have remained strong after his departure -- as his former teammates expected they would -- but Pogba's first season as a regular Premier League player has been a good one. Not a great one, not a bad one, but a good one. He's had spells where he's been as good as hoped, chiefly before Christmas when United started winning regularly and Pogba was as dominant as Zlatan Ibrahimovic was clinical.

Though his form, like that of his team, has dipped in 2017, Pogba has had individual games in which he has looked so superior to his opponents. In Europe against Rostov and, most recently, at Celta Vigo, his athleticism, power, drive and range of passing came to the fore.

Pogba has also had some poor games, the most unfortunate of which was against Liverpool at Old Trafford in January. He conceded a penalty and generally played out a stinker during a game that coincided with the launch of his personal emoji, which flashed on screens around the pitch.

Fans of football traditions may have winced at that branding but Pogba himself, who has in excess of 25m followers on various social media platforms, is entirely comfortable, both with how he's projected by the club and by his own desire to do things differently.

"Paul is an eccentric," his close friend Patrice Evra told me recently. "Every day he wants to create something new. He's a creator; not only in football but in his life and you see that on social media. If he has a bad game, people criticise him for what he does on social media or his haircuts, but that won't change him. He thinks for himself and acts for himself. He's a friend and we have much in common, yet we see life completely differently. Sometimes I laugh at his latest haircut, but I also say: 'Do what you like. Nobody should change you, it's your life.'"

Besides, footballers down the years have got up to far worse than changing the colour of their hair. Pogba trains well and is a positive influence on youthful teammates like 16-year-old Angel Gomes who, when he came on against Palace, became United's youngest player since Duncan Edwards in 1953.

Pogba possesses the personality trait to lead -- in 2011, when he first arrived from France as a teenager, his coach Paul McGuiness described him as being "like the Pied Piper with the other young players" -- but he still faces many challenges.

Mourinho thinks the price tag is a burden and those who know Pogba well have similar concerns, despite them having every faith in his ability and mental strength. But he is ready to lead United on Wednesday night, his 51st game of a season that followed no real preseason as he rested following Euro 2016 and moved from Italy to England.

Two of Pogba's best performances this season were against Crystal Palace, one of just four teams against which United won at home and away. The others were relegated Sunderland and Middlesbrough, plus mid-table Leicester, who United also defeated in the Community Shield.

That game at Wembley last August brought Mourinho's first trophy as United boss. If he wins a third, he can call this season a success. As can Pogba.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by ANDY MITTEN

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]