Bengaluru, January 23: Premier League veteran striker Peter Crouch has lauded Manchester United's record signing Paul Pogba, insisting that the midfielder has the same attributes as United legend Paul Scholes.
Pogba cost United £89.3 million in the summer of 2016 when he joined United from Juventus and since then, he has been one of Jose Mourinho’s most important players.
The player's Premier League career took off slow, but he still guided his team to an UEFA Europa League victory, and was named the Player of the Tournament.
9 - Only Paul Pogba (9) has more Premier League assists for Man Utd than Henrikh Mkhitaryan this season, despite the Armenian starting just two games since the end of October. Delivered. pic.twitter.com/q5KVZJESLt
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 22, 2018
This season, he is third in the assists' list in the Premier League with nine, despite playing several matches lesser than Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bryune.
And according to Stoke City's Crouch, who played against Pogba just one week ago in their 3-0 defeat, Frenchman Pogba has delivered the same character like former United academy player Paul Scholes in United's recent success.
14 - Paul Pogba has been directly involved in 14 goals in his last 14 Premier League games for @ManUtd (4 goals, 10 assists). Creator. pic.twitter.com/lsMnWkSVIX
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 15, 2018
"United may be less expansive but they are solid and, aside from that, they have Paul Pogba. Like his team, he splits opinion but, God, he is class,” Crouch wrote in his latest Daily Mail column. “He’s got so much power, so much strength and speed and I haven’t seen anyone hitting passes like he did since the days of Scholes.
“I remember being used in some games as the man to try and stop Scholes. I’d come deep and try to put pressure on him but the task was impossible. Get too close, he’d knock the ball around you and be away. Give him space and he’d ping these 60 and 70-yard passes away into feet. Pogba, in his own way, was doing that on Monday.”
“Yet standing that close to him, I was left with the impression that he still has so much more to give. You can see that he finds playing football so easy and there are definitely more gears in there that he can go through.
“He has got everything. The quality of the pass he put round the corner for Anthony Martial was sublime. He could score 20 a season if he had the desire to get in the box like Frank Lampard. If he wanted to, he could sit in midfield and control the game.”