Rio Ferdinand has waded into Paul Pogba’s feud with Graeme Souness, slamming the pundit for his criticism of the Manchester United star and suggesting he is stuck in the past.
The former Liverpool midfielder was not best pleased when Pogba claimed he had never heard of him, responding by challenging the World Cup-winning Frenchman to ‘put his medals on the table’.
But Ferdinand says Souness is blind to how successful Pogba has been, particularly during his time at Juventus, and has singled him out unfairly given how little he has played due to injury this season.
Asked about Souness’ comments to Pogba on The Beautiful Game Podcast, Ferdinand said: ‘He hasn’t even played football this year! I don’t know how his name is in people’s mouths, he hasn’t even played football.
‘I don’t understand it, like why are you chatting about Paul Pogba? He hasn’t played really this season so he shouldn’t be in the conversation. I don’t understand. Yeah he’s a great player, huge profile, I understand all that. But he’s being judged or made the villain in this season which he’s played really no part in, so I don’t get it.
‘Obviously Graeme Souness made a statement about putting your medals on the table. Boy, listen, my man’s got a World Cup winners’ medal. Like, it’s hard to chat to someone when they’ve got a World Cup. He won four Scudetti in Italy or something. He’s won stuff.
‘Listen, Graeme Souness was a great player and he’s won a lot of stuff. Listen, my generation, and even worse for Graeme Souness and all them guys in that generation, they’ve got to understand that these guys don’t look at them sometimes. They don’t know who they are.
‘For Paul Pogba to say he doesn’t know who he is, or wouldn’t know him as a footballer, I believe that. It’s not disrespectful, he don’t know him! As great a player as Souness was – he was a top player, one of the best, if you’re talking about the best British midfielders we’ve ever produced, he’s in the conversation – but Paul Pogba don’t know him. Simple as that.
‘And that’s just a difference of generations. So I don’t think it’s disrespectful. Listen, if I was Paul Pogba I would have said the same thing, but I would have been saying it from a disrespectful stand point, because I’d be saying, “You’ve been disrespecting me this whole time and I’ve not kicked a ball! Why you talking about me for?”
‘And listen I’m honest about Paul, and I love Paul because I’ve known him since he was a young kid and I still chat to him now, but the only problem I have with Paul is he should chat instead of his agent chatting. If he’d done that there’d be more clarity on the whole situation.’
Asked if he has spoken to Pogba and told him that, Ferdinand continued: ‘Yeah I spoke to him about all that type of stuff. But Paul is his own man, he’s going to deal with it his own way and I respect that. So that’s the only thing I’d say.
‘Would Paul have wanted to do more in a Man United shirt in terms of performances? I’m sure he would. Listen this kid is an absolute professional, desperate to be the best player in the world, he wants to be that. Don’t ever get that twisted. But these guys are talking about him like he’s some kind of fairground player.
‘Listen it’s taken me time to adjust, I used to find it hard seeing players smiling in the tunnel or players dancing in the changing room or if they’re injured and out dancing somewhere like Paul was. These guys are going mad about it like he should be in his home hibernating not doing anything in his life, like his life has to stop. No, it’s not like that.
‘Everybody is different. I probably wouldn’t have been doing what Paul’s doing, but I understand what he’s doing is taking his mind off being injured, it’s getting his mind off being in a depressive state. I know players that would shut themselves off when they got injured and would become depressed, Louis Saha, depressed, scared to talk to anyone about it.
‘Do you want someone to be like that? Or do you want them to still have their personality, still remain on top of the world and thinking they can’t wait to get back? I’d rather that, I’d rather what Paul’s doing. You may not like seeing it, but that’s him, that’s what he’s like, you can’t control that.’
MORE: Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba ready to make an impact for Manchester United, says Kieran McKenna
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