Skip to main content

Martial: Pogba can be world's best player



Anthony Martial believes his Manchester United team-mate Paul Pogba is “probably the best midfield player in the world”, who could become a Ballon d’Or winner within five years.

Martial made that claim while speaking to MUTV last month for an upcoming documentary about Pogba, who has since made an excellent start to the season by scoring two goals and setting up four others in the consecutive 4-0 Premier League wins over West Ham United and Swansea City.

The stage is certainly set for Pogba to enjoy a successful second season under Jose Mourinho's management, following a 2016/17 campaign that yielded 53 appearances, nine goals and three trophies. 

Martial feels his friend has all of the physical and mental attributes that are needed to become the world’s best player, as he told us: “Paul is very mentally strong and he is very sure of himself.

“He is a big guy, he is very technical on the ball and he has lots of endurance,” Martial continued. “I would say he is probably the best midfield player in the world. He is still young, too, so he has a lot to work on and he can get even better. As a person you can see he is always the same. He is funny, always smiling, he doesn’t take himself too seriously, I always see him laughing and he is a good friend of mine. He is the same person on and off the pitch, and he'll continue to be like this.”

At the age of 24, Pogba still has most of his professional career ahead of him Martial delivered a confident response when asked what his fellow Frenchman will have achieved in five years’ time.

“We want to win a lot of trophies together at United, and we also want to win the World Cup with France,” Anthony outlined. “If he continues to play and improve like he is doing then I think he is also going to win the Ballon d’Or award in the next five years.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What Manchester United need to improve after defeat.

Right wing issue continues Bordeaux's left-footed right winger Malcom was United's early January target before Alexis Sanchez became attainable. How to accommodate him in a Premier League fixture was the obvious quandary and Jose Mourinho did so by shifting Anthony Martial to the right flank, which was an obvious error. It was to Martial's credit he fashioned a couple of openings during the first-half horror show and he still spent the majority of it on the fringes, as the enterprising Sanchez troubled Tottenham with his darts across the attacking line. Jesse Lingard did not vindicate the decision to keep him behind Romelu Lukaku. Martial was the inevitable fall guy, given the Sanchez signing and Lingard's fabulous form. Lingard is perhaps the least talented of the trio and it was telling that at the start of the second half he was moved to the right and Martial occupied his favoured left wing berth. The irony is Martial was poorer ther...

How Manchester United reacted on transfer window changes

Manchester United voted against an early transfer window closure next year because of the 'disadvantage' Premier League clubs could suffer, according to Jose Mourinho.   Manchester United, Manchester City, Swansea, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Watford were the only Premier League clubs to vote against the proposal to close the 2018 summer transfer window on the Thursday before the top-flight domestic season starts, while another abstained. Fourteen clubs voted in favour of the window closing on August 9. Mourinho had previously admitted he would be in favour of an early closure but stressed United must refuse to deal with any prospective buyers after the Premier League window shuts, since European clubs will be free to sign Premier League players until the end of August. "My thoughts are by the coach's point of view, Jose Mourinho as the head coach of Manchester United," he said. "Obviously, I am in favour of that because if I f...

Jose Mourinho give transfer update on fourth target

Jose Mourinho does not expect Manchester United to clinch their fourth priority target before the transfer window closes. MUFC Daily News understand that Mourinho had settled on signing a centre-back, a defensive midfielder, a winger and a striker ahead of the new season but United have failed to recruit a wide player so far. Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic have arrived but the club had bids rejected by Internazionale for Ivan Perisic and Danny Rose's flirtation could not persuade United to bid for the Tottenham left-back, despite their interest. Mourinho said "Everyone knows I would like a fourth player and I can’t hide that because I had it in my mind," Mourinho reiterated during his press conference on Friday. "But I am happy if I am not going to have [a fourth player] and I don’t think I am going to have. "And I was the first to tell my board not to feel any kind of pressure from me in that respect, but probably n...