Is there a day when star footballer, Paul Pogba doesn’t add at least one achievement to his grand list of satisfactory feats? The Manchester United star who walked out on the club back in 2012 on a free transfer having grown frustrated at a lack of ‘first-team’ opportunities and returned four years later for a world record transfer fee is never slowing down as he has made his mark as a global superstar.
Now just after his debut campaign as the world’s most-expensive footballer, Pogba graces the cover of Esquire magazine, ahead of his second season as Old Trafford’s star footballer.
The French player, who won three trophies in his first campaign back, is now eyeing more success. In an interview the magazine, he talks candidly about walking out on United, how he copes with being the most expensive player in the world, life as a Muslim in Manchester and opens up on the recent death of his father. See excerpts from the Frenchman’s interview below:
On leaving Manchester United: “I left Manchester to play. That’s all I wanted. Even though I was young, I felt I could play now and I didn’t want to wait. So if it wasn’t with Manchester it would be with someone else. But in my mind, I knew: ‘It’s not finished, I might come back.’ My mum told me this: ‘You’ll come back one day.’ And here I am; having a haircut in Manchester.”
On being the most expensive player in the world: “After one week, I forgot. It’s people that reminded me. Because at the end of the day, when you die, the most expensive and the less expensive, they go in the same grave. So I don’t even think about it.”
On the recent death of his father: “When you lose someone you love, you don’t think the same way. And that’s why I say I enjoy life, because it goes very fast. I remember when I was talking to my dad and now he’s not here. My dad was a very strong man, very stubborn as well, he fought, but at his age it’s not easy. No, he was a very good man, a very good dad and I’m proud to be his son. He was one of the funniest guys ever, so funny. Every time you had time with him, you were laughing. Very clever as well, because he was a professor. You have to remember the happy things.”
Photo Credit: Esquire
