Graeme Souness Slams Pogba, Hails Young Forward As 'Star' After Man Utd's 5-1 Win

Grame Souness, the former Liverpool FC midfielder, slammed Paul Pogba after Manchester United's 5-1 win in their Premier League opener Saturday. Souness instead hailed Mason Greenwood as the "real star of the show."

Pogba assisted four out of Manchester United's five goals against Leeds United at Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side kickstarted their 2021-22 campaign in style. Bruno Fernandes registered a hat-trick while the other two goals were scored by Fred and Greenwood.

Souness, who has often criticized Pogba, said that the French midfielder's contribution in Manchester United's 5-1 win was nothing extraordinary and was to be expected from someone the club paid a then-record transfer fee of $123 million in 2016.

"For me, yesterday the star of the show was Greenwood. For a young boy, I thought he was sensational," he said on Sky Sports after Red Devils' victory at Old Trafford.

On listening to that, his fellow pundit Micah Richards laughed and pointed out that Pogba had made four assists. To which, Souness replied: "We expect that from a £100 million ($134m) man. I was going to get around to the point. They spent £70 ($97m)-odd million on [Jadon] Sancho and maybe that might be something to look back on and think: 'Do we need to spend that money?' Because that boy is a player, is a finisher and I think he's going to be a top player."

Souness' opinion irked former Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand, who took to social media to express his disappointment.

Replying to a Twitter post of Souness' comments, Ferdinand wrote, "Come on Graeme."

Pogba has entered the final year of his contract at Manchester United. While Solskjaer is optimistic regarding the Frenchman's future at Old Trafford, there have been speculations about Pogba wanting to leave the club.

"The last 18 months have been strange, the only interaction have been through media, you have watched the games on telly so to be reunited with the fans like Paul and Bruno [Fernandes] is important, this is the real Man Utd, this is how I sold Man Utd to Edinson [Cavani], you can't leave after one season with no fans, Will it help persuade him? In short: yes," Solskjaer was quoted as saying in a recent interview.