For £86m, Pogba needs to score 50 goals a season, says Manchester United legend Paul Scholes

Panaji: Whether it’s the staggering transfer fee involving former teammate Paul Pogba or Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s move to Manchester United in the twilight of his career, Paul Scholes is not afraid to speak his mind. The Manchester United legend took questions from TOI, among a select gathering of journalists, after his team, Bangalore 5’s, was knocked out of Premier Futsal. Excerpts… Does playing for England seem a lot less attractive to the players because of the negativity?
Not less attractive; I think it’s probably a mentality thing.It’s difficult with the national team in England especially because the league is so competitive. You are getting players from Manchester, Arsenal, Tottenham together (when) every week they are fighting to try and win the league or a Cup. So it’s very difficult to get the team spirit which has been the biggest problem.
Is Sam Allardyce the right man for the England job?
I hope so, time will tell. Whenever there is a new manager involved, whether it’s (Louis) Van Gaal (at Manchester United), you always hope he is the right man. It didn’t quite work out. David Moyes, (Jose) Mourinho we hope is the right man, we don’t know. In two years time, we can answer that question. We just keep fingers crossed and hope he is the right man.
Does he have the right ingredients to make him a successful England coach?
I think he has great experience. (He is) Probably unfairly tagged with being a long-ball team (coach). He has been with the Bolton teams which were quite good. They had some brilliant footballers. If he has the footballers, he will create entertaining football. I hope he can create the team spirit which is very important.
What are your thoughts on Paul Pogba and his reported transfer to Manchester United?
I don’t think there was much option when he left. He was a very talented young player. I played with him and I knew how good he was. He played in the first team may be once or twice, but from my understanding he was asking for too much money for someone who did not play first team football. Okay, he has gone on to great things. I think certainly there has been a lot of improvement. He needed to improve if he is going to be a player worth £86m. I just don’t think he is worth £86m. For that sort of money, you want someone who is going to score 50 goals a season like Ronaldo or Messi. Pogba is nowhere there yet.
What about Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
We don’t know about Zlatan yet. He is 34-35 and will be here for only a year. Ok he is a fit lad. I think with Ibrahimovic, he was playing in a team of PSG and they created a lot of chances. It was easy for him to score goals in that league. This Manchester United team isn’t as good as the PSG team. It might be in time to come. He is going to have to do more for himself in the Manchester United team. More than he had to do at PSG.