They do say you should ‘never go back’. See Jose Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea, a Premier League title one year and then a remarkable unravelling in the next. Robbie Fowler’s Liverpool homecoming, meanwhile, was less the Return of the King and more a tragic attempt to recapture the happier times.
Claudio Marchisio, meanwhile, feels like that famous old cliche is best summed up by his former team-mates ill-fated, six-year spell at Manchester United between 2016 and 2022.
A man who returned to Old Trafford amid proclamations of glory and departed with barely a whimper, his contract terminated and the shine scrubbed from his once-glittering reputation.
Remarkably, things have gotten even worse for Paul Pogba since his second Old Trafford exit two summer’s ago. If the term ‘never go back’ can be applied to Pogba’s Man United return, then it feels even more fitting when discussing that doomed switch back to Juventus.
Paul Pogba hit with four-year ban at Juventus
“Everything he’s experienced hurts me a lot, between physical and personal problems and the issue of doping,” Marchisio sighs, speaking to Diario AS after Pogba – who has played only eight Serie A games in the last year-and-a-half due to injury, was hit with a four-year ban which could end his top-level career.
“He was one of the teammates who impressed me the most on the field. Injuries did not allow him to have the career he deserved. He could have aimed for the Ballon d’Or.”
How much blame should be apportioned to Manchester United for the way Pogba’s career turned out is up for debate. The World Cup winner certainly didn’t endear himself to large portions of the support – performances befitting his £89 million price-tag few and far between – but a Red Devils side under the car-crash control of Ed Woodward and the despised Glazer family never even threatened to build a structure capable of getting the best out of this most mercurial of footballers.
Fortunately, with Ineos now in control, better days appear to be on the way.
Manchester United return was ‘a mistake’
Another of Pogba’s former Juventus team-mates – the striker Alessandro Matri – lays a lot of the blame at the door of Jose Mourinho, the manager who’s fork-tongued criticism of the United squad took it’s toll on the free-spirited Frenchman.
“I think it was a mistake to return to United,” Marchisio adds. “It didn’t help his development.”
Pogba, back in February, confirmed his intention to appeal the ban which could keep him out of the game until his mid-30s. Even if his suspension is reduced, the injuries which have destroyed the last 18 months of his career will still take some overcoming.