For the Madridistas: A damning assessment of Paul Pogba's 'best ever season' 

Pogba speaking at a recent interview:

“After this season and everything that happened this season, with my season being my best season as well ... I think for me it could be a good time to have a new challenge somewhere else."

Following these comments from the Manchester United ace last week, let's take a look at Paul Pogba’s season for the Reds and assess just how great it truly was.

A lot was expected of the World Cup winner when he arrived back in Old Trafford, and he was set to be named captain at the world's most supported club as a reward for his heroics with France. Pogba seemed to have other ideas though and reportedly responded by telling his manager and teammates that he wanted to leave Man United. This led to him being stripped of the armband in time for game three against Spurs, with Mourinho allegedly stating that he would never wear it again - not a great start!

Following a poor 2-2 draw against Southampton in the league, manager Jose Mourinho tore into his squad and singled out the fan-favorite for criticism after he failed to track back when he was dispossessed by Nathan Redmond, who went on to test David de Gea from range.

The duo has had their differences.

Mourinho allegedly told Pogba:

“You don't play. You don't respect players and supporters. And you kill the mentality of the good honest people around you. You are like a person with a flu, with a virus in a closed room - you pass that virus to the others."

Friction between manager and player continued to escalate and, not long before Christmas, the Manchester United board sided with their record signing and opted to sack their Portuguese manager. Shortly after this, an immature Pogba took to Twitter to mock the departing Mourinho. The club claimed it was a promotional tweet which had been pre-scheduled, and it was deleted.

It’s worth mentioning that at the time of Mourinho’s departure, Pogba had registered just 3 goals and 3 assists in the EPL. It's also fair to say he had gone completely missing in a number of matches, with many fans at this point beginning to have serious concerns about both his temperament and commitment.

Put simply, the first half of Pogba's season was simply not good enough for a World Cup winning player in the prime of his career who cost a princely £90million from Juventus in 2016.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been successful with Pogba, but it didn't last long.

Enter Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Things started off well under the new manager, with Pogba contributing 8 goals and 6 assists in the Norweigan's first 11 games in charge, making him, at that time, the most effective player in top-flight European football.

The success was to be short-lived, however. He was sent off in the Champions League round-of-16 home tie against PSG for an ill-advised, petty challenge late on and never really returned to full form again. What followed were lackluster selfish performances against Barcelona in the quarterfinals (does anyone remember his 55-yard drive that went a mile wide?), and an equally abject showing against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup. Manchester United crashed out of both competitions and the Frenchman never batted an eyelid.

In an interview with BEIN Sports, United legend Gary Neville had this to say about Pogba's abject performance in the Red Devils' UCL humbling at the Camp Nou:

“Pogba’s now playing how he was pre-Ole’s arrival. I thought he was really poor, rolling his foot over the ball all the time, playing for himself, not popping it off and moving, didn’t look interested at times."

During the final 11 games of the season, United's record signing registered just 1 assist and 2 goals (both of which came from the penalty spot against West Ham). However, it wasn't Pogba's poor return on goals that upset the Red Devils' fanbase. It was the lack of effort he put into those games.

So many times the player failed to track back, gave the ball away, took hideous shots from long-distance, and generally just seemed unmotivated. Don't even get United fans started on his failure to win a header up against Man City's Riyad Mahrez.

After such a performance against Everton, a game United lost 4-0, Sky Sports pundit and former United hero Roy Keane had this to say on the Frenchman:

“I wouldn't believe a word he (Pogba) says. There's no meaning, no meaning behind it. I don't even think he believed what he was saying there. He is a big problem, no doubt about it. You've got to run back when you're defending."

Following a horrendous final-day home-defeat at the hands of already-relegated Cardiff City, some of the Manchester United faithful finally turned on Pogba, berating him for his poor work ethic and lack of passion for the shirt during the team’s end of season lap of honor.

Pogba responded in true form and stood there, arguing back with the very people who adore him, refusing to accept any criticism despite the obvious torrid effects he had had on United's season, a season in which they finished trophyless and 6th.

If you take away the penalty kicks from Pogba's record for the 18/19 EPL season (7), you are left with a player who scored 6 goals and assisted 9 in 34 matches.

When you peer a bit deeper into the situation at Old Trafford at present and begin to analyze some of the comments made about the player, his overall performances over his three seasons back in Manchester, his languid body language, his selfishness, his fallout with Mourinho, his constant transfer requests, and his disrespect towards Manchester United as a club in general, "best ever season" truly does feel a bit rich.

We wonder exactly how long the Real Madrid faithful, who have famously high standards for their players, will be willing to put up with this kind of behavior?