Paul Pogba was greeted at Manchester United with selfies — but it was very different at Old Trafford in Roy Keane’s day
PAUL POGBA was welcomed back by his Manchester United team-mates with open arms and the clicking of a few selfies after completing his world-record £89million return.
Jesse Lingard, who played with the Frenchman in the youth teams back in 2011, posted a video of the pair together on social media.
While a number of other Red Devils stars tweeted messages and pictures to express their excitement at the prospect of playing alongside Pogba.
One can only wonder what would have happened if Roy Keane was still around the United changing room.
Would he have stood for this?
The legendary midfielder lifted the Premier League trophy on four occasions — which is a record he holds with John Terry.
And the key to Keane’s success was that his team-mates were treated as equals, no matter what price they were brought in for.
In 1998, Sir Alex Ferguson splashed out a then club-record £12.9m to sign Dwight Yorke.
United were on the lookout for a maverick to replace the huge void left by the departure of the enigmatic Eric Cantona a year earlier.
Trinidad and Tobago hitman, Yorke, was banging in the goals for Aston Villa.
Much was expected of him at United, but Keane immediately brought him down a peg or two.
In his first season, the Irishman purposely overhit a pass to Yorke, which the striker failed to control.
And, to give him an idea of the step up in class, Keane sneered: “Cantona used to kill them.”
While four years later, Rio Ferdinand — who arrived as the club’s most expensive-ever player and world’s costliest defender at £30m — was given no preferential treatment.
The classy centre-back moved from Leeds after an impressive World Cup campaign.
United were desperate for a defender with the quality to replace Jaap Stam, who had moved to Lazio a year earlier.
Ferdinand came with the reputation of having a flashy lifestyle — and even turned up to his presentation in a white suit.
In contrast the big Dutchman’s no-nonsense defending, the England ace was good on the ball and capable of playing his way out of trouble.
But he was brought back down to earth on his first training session.
Ferdinand attempted his first pass, and Keane screamed: “Pass the f***ing ball — it’s f***ing easy going sideways. Pass it forward!”
We think Pogba got off rather lightly.