Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba has been the subject of many discussions over the last couple of seasons, but if one goes by his performance against Atalanta, Bianconeri boss Massimiliano Allegri is not impressed.
The Frenchman had been tipped as a player with great potential, right from his days as a youth player at Manchester United. After his move from the English club to Juventus, the midfielder has improved by leaps and bounds, and is now regarded as one of the best in the world.
However, Allegri was not too happy about the poor performance that the 22-year-old dished out in the weekend Serie A tie against Juventus. The former AC Milan manager even went on to say that Pogba “basically stopped playing” in the second half.
“Paul Pogba is a player who can make the difference if he plays it simple and is focused,” Allegri said to Sky Italia [via Goal.com]. “He got booked and let that affect him, so he lost his way in the second half and basically stopped playing.”
However, in spite of a poor showing by their star midfielder, Juventus were able to defeat Atalanta by a comfortable margin of 2-0, with centre-back Andrea Barzagli and substitute Mario Lemina getting on the scoresheet.
“It was a good first half, we made some mistakes in our passing choices after the break and in the last half-hour should’ve done better,” said Allegri. “The approach to the game was good, we could’ve scored more than one early on and moved the ball around well. Once we stopped playing, they started whipping in crosses and we naturally suffered a bit.”
Is this an indication that Pogba may be on the move?
There have been a lot of rumours about Pogba looking at his options outside Serie A, with a host of other clubs interested in getting his signature.
At the centre of these rumours is Chelsea, who are also believed to be in talks with current Italy manager Antonio Conte. Pogba had played under Conte for a few years, when the 46-year-old was a manager at Juventus. Conte was the manager who brought the glory days back to Turin, with three consecutive Serie A titles with the Bianconeri.
It has been rumoured, that if Conte takes up the top job at Chelsea, he wants the Frenchman to join him at the West London club. An opportunity to reunite with his old boss, coupled with words of discontent from the current one may just be the trigger that Pogba needs to abandon the Old Lady.
