Patrice Evra made the claim on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
The French midfielder came through the ranks at Old Trafford after joining as a 16-year-old.left United and signed for Italian Serie A giants Juventus.
After making a name for himself in Italy, United forked out £89 million to bring Pogba back to Manchester in 2016. Speaking about Pogba’s return, Evra said: “Manchester United brought Paul Pogba back because they wanted to humiliate Sir Alex Ferguson. I told Paul to not go back because he wanted Real Madrid and Madrid wanted him, but Florentino Pérez didn’t want to pay the money.“His agent called United, and he signed with him without telling me. The club was happy because they were selling shirts, you know the kids love Pogba – it was more commercial than anything on the pitch.
“One day, he said to the press, ‘I deserve to win the Ballon d’Or' I was like, ‘Wait a minute, did you ever hear Lampard saying that, did you ever hear Iniesta, Xavi or whatever?’ And, I’m like, ‘Calm down, you’re not ready for that’.“With Paul, you see him like that, but inside, he’s not that strong and he’s protecting himself, and that’s why I tried to protect Paul, because sometimes it was unfair. People were talking more about his hairstyle or his dancing than judging him on the pitch.
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