Bastian Schweinsteiger admitted he would’ve adored playing alongside Paul Pogba at Manchester United.
Speaking on the BBC Football Daily podcast, Schweinsteiger voiced his admiration for the France international, but questioned his inconsistent club form.
Pogba is one of the game’s great enigmas, not to mention arguably the most divisive figure in modern football.
His talent is undeniable. His reliability is beyond questionable.
The midfielder’s quality comes in waves. For short periods, he is totally unstoppable.
For very long stretches, he is quite often unpickable.
This is not an issue when he pulls on the French jersey; all of Pogba’s problems seem to arrive in a United shirt.
A player of his ability should be starting every single week.
Unless, you share the views of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has failed to select the 28-year-old in the last two Premier League fixtures.
Schweinsteiger shares
Is this simply a case of fitting a square peg into a round hole?
The shape has certainly been shifted following the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo.
“The questions always: how do you manage those kind of players into your team?”, asked Schweinsteiger about Ronaldo.
“Same with Paul Pogba. Best player for me in the French national team.
“He is always playing at the highest level. But is he playing at the highest level for United? I don’t think so.
“So, the question is how can you bring those kinds of players to the best performance. In my eyes, it has to be something with the right teammates.
“If you have the right teammates, those kind of players, the genius, the stars, that’s why I would’ve wanted to play so much with Paul Pogba, Zlatan (Ibrahimovic), because those players are game-changers.
“You just need to give them the right balls and to feed them and they enjoy playing football and bring you success.”
Pogba’s partner
Pogba and Schweinsteiger did actually briefly share a dressing room whilst the latter was still under United’s roof.
However, they only featured together once, for 28 minutes, in a Europa League game against Saint-Etienne.
Other than that, the former Bayern Munich man has had to watch Pogba’s frustrating career from afar.
Imagine how far the Frenchman could go if he was nurtured by serial-winner like Schweinsteiger.
The idea is nice, but the reality remains altogether different.
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