Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand has called on manager, Jose Mourinho to ‘unlock’ Paul Pogba for the club after the midfielder inspired France to success against Croatia in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Pogba scored the Les Blues’ third goal as the Didier Deschamps’ men sealed a 4-2 victory over Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to win the tournament for the second time in their history, after winning their first in 1998 on home soil.
Ferdinand believes that Pogba struggled at United because Mourinho has not figured out the right position to play him.
“Pogba was immense, especially in the second half, with the pressure on his shoulders and the huge price tag above him, he has to come to the fore and he did,” Ferdinand told the BBC.
“He’s had a tough season in terms of the media and people within the game, but for this World Cup he was responsible, and he stood up to a lot of hard tests.
“It’s down to Jose now to unlock the Pogba we saw at this World Cup. He was the talisman of this team.
“When he played at Juventus he was affecting games, maybe United aren’t getting the ball to him in the right areas. Pogba will head back to Manchester United as a World Cup winner.
“At United he’s not receiving a ball off a player like [Andrea] Pirlo, the balls aren’t getting to him quick enough in the right areas.
“He maybe isn’t being put in the right positions at the start of the game.
“And this is the manager’s job to figure it out,” he said.
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