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#3 Paul Pogba
Plenty of players leave their boyhood club only to return there later in their careers, but few end up making the move for a world record-breaking transfer fee. That’s exactly what happened to Paul Pogba in the summer of 2016, though, as the French midfielder left Juventus for a monstrous fee of £89m to return to the club whose academy he’d initially broke through in – Manchester United.
Pogba moved to Old Trafford from French side Le Havre in late 2009 as a 16-year old, and instantly slotted into a strong academy side which also contained other highly rated youngsters such as Jesse Lingard, Michael Keane and Ravel Morrison. The Frenchman helped that academy side to win the FA Youth Cup in 2010-11, and it seemed like he had a bright future with the Red Devils.
That quickly went south in 2012, though; after being promised some first team action by boss Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of the 2011-12 season, Pogba ended up making just 7 appearances in all competitions – with legend suggesting that Ferguson preferred to use the 37-year old Paul Scholes – who came out of retirement – ahead of him in United’s midfield.
That, along with frictions between the club and his agent Mino Raiola, led to Pogba refusing to sign a new contract with United, and in the summer of 2012 he moved to Juventus as a free agent. Almost as soon as he arrived in Italy, it became clear that the Red Devils had made a blunder in letting him go; his debut season with the Old Lady saw him make 37 appearances, impressing everyone with his skills, and soon after, he became a key player for the club, winning the Scudetto in each of his 4 seasons there.
His performances for Juventus – and for the French national team – prompted United to break the world-record transfer fee to “bring him home” in the summer of 2016, and despite his somewhat patchy form since, it’s crazy to think that the Red Devils need never have spent such money had they simply given him more opportunities in his first run with the club.
