Pogba Showed Manchester United Fans He Would Be A World-Beater Aged 18

Paul Pogba never started for Sir Alex Ferguson but the former Man Utd youngster's Youth Cup semi-final start was the making of him.

While emerging from Wing's restaurant in December, Paul Pogba told an M.E.N. photographer he 'loves' Manchester and United fans would love for him to return permanently. Pogba swung by his old academy teammate Luke Giverin's house as the 2014 World Cup's best young player and a three-time Serie A champion during his fleeting return to Cottonopolis, but he never had the chance to make his mark in the city.

The first time Pogba graced a 40,000+ all-seater stadium in England five years ago he wassent off by a joyless referee for feinting during his run-up to take a penalty at Anfield. His teammates reprieved him and offered the 18-year-old another chance to showcase his talent outside the north west at champions Chelsea's Stamford Bridge. The only flashes of red were on Pogba's opponents' flustered faces.

Ravel Morrison had inspired United to a captivating comeback at Liverpool in the Youth Cup quarter-finals, scoring twice and kissing the badge in front of the Kop to seal a 3-2 victory, in a bad-tempered match in which Pogba was one of four players sent off on an afternoon Raheem Sterling enhanced his burgeoning reputation.

Pogba sees red at Anfield

United were bereft of the talismanic Morrison at Stamford Bridge on a sunny Sunday afternoon. He would return to open the scoring in the second leg's 4-0 thrashing and struck twice more in the final dismantling of Sheffield United, but Pogba emerged from Morrison's shadow at Chelsea in a match which was perhaps the making of the Frenchman.

Chelsea beat United 3-2 in a vibrant encounter enriched by their clinical Nathaniel Chalobah and silky Milan Lalkovic but Pogba was the best player on the pitch. Few Reds had braved the Baltic chills of Turf Moor and the Boleyn Ground in midweek winter to watch Pogba in the Youth Cup and, for a few hundred United fans huddled in the Shed End, the weekend journey south was worthwhile just to watch the imperious teenager grab the game by the lapels.

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In the blue corner was Josh McEachran, a tidy footballer who was over-hyped mainly by virtue of his nationality. England were cautiously optimistic back then, with Jack Wilshere performing auspiciously in his breakthrough season at Arsenal, McEachran rising to prominence and Morrison briefly overcoming the chaos that engulfed his personal life to flourish for United.

Pogba, though, was patently on another level. The footage of his United debut at Crewe the previous season excited supporters but, as is often the case when scrutinising rough diamonds, by witnessing their influence in the flesh you appreciated how advanced they actually were. Pogba was imperious even in defeat at Chelsea, scoring United's second and displaying a Gallic zeal that was not dissimilar to Eric Cantona's at United. It is just a pity Sir Alex Ferguson was not in attendance.

   Pogba celebrates scoring at Chelsea

Morrison's spell of maturity following a court date was as brief as one of his first-team appearances. He was understood to have confronted one of Liverpool's youngsters inside the Anfield bowels after the quarter-final victory and he had to be restrained while confronting the referee at the interval of United's second leg win over Chelsea. It was symptomatic of the phlegmatic Pogba's temperament his only transgression at United was an impudent penalty.

At a time Ferguson's central midfield blind spot was obscured by the plump frame of Anderson, it was encouraging to witness three United academy midfielders blossoming. Morrison might have enraged the Scousers in the quarters but Heywood-born Ryan Tunnicliffe was the heartbeat of that victory and was peculiarly regarded as more developed even than Pogba at the time.

Tunnicliffe congratulates Pogba on his goal at Chelsea

One Manchester correspondent was not alone when he described Tunnicliffe as 'the one I really like' of the trio. He was deemed readier for first-team football than Pogba and Morrison and sent to Ferguson's son's side, Peterborough, on loan in the summer of 2011 whereas his more talented peers remained in Manchester, not even considered for the pre-season trip to the United States, brooding at Carrington and graduating from Under-18s to U21s, making the odd cameo in the senior side.

Tunnicliffe would play at Stamford Bridge again 18 months after his Youth Cup appearance. Introduced as a substitute in the madcap 5-4 League Cup defeat to Chelsea, Tunnicliffe had made his debut the previous month, earning his dad £10,000 for betting his son would play for United's first team. Ferguson's decision to play Tunnicliffe junior again suggested he'd lost a bet with Tunnicliffe senior.

   Tunnicliffe made his United debut in 2012

The midfielder was as wayward as his professionalism, having crashed his £60,000 Range Rover while drink-driving weeks earlier. On the same night as Tunnicliffe's haphazard west London return, Pogba scored a 90th-minute winner for Serie A champions Juventus. Tunnicliffe never played for United again. Pogba was a full international five months later.

United supporters do not have the benefit of monitoring the players in training or their attitude inside the remote Carrington fortress, but it did not require coaching expertise to determine Pogba, as early as April 2011, was a talent for whom U21 football was beneath and Tunnicliffe was a workhorse with ample grit and little guile. Juve admired merely from afar and knew Pogba was ready for senior football, yet United mistook his headstrong determination for arrogance when the local lads could have learned from his refined professionalism.

The latest crop would love to have him back.

CREDIT:Manchestereveningnews