Wigan boss Warren Joyce will take great pride in seeing ‘his’ kids hit the big time when his side face Manchester United
Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard are just some of the names the Lactics manager helped turn into stars
PAUL POGBA always had it — even before it took a world record £89million to get him back.
Marcus Rashford has it, Jesse Lingard too.
It is what makes them true Manchester United players. What Warren Joyce calls the X factor.
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It is why he cannot lose when he returns to Old Trafford on Sunday as manager of Wigan.
Joyce may finish on the wrong side of an FA Cup kicking.
But the former star maker at the Theatre of Dreams will still take huge pride in seeing youngsters he brought through prove he was right about them.
His regard for them — even those who did not quite make it — knows no bounds.
For he knows what a long, hard road they have travelled.
That maybe some of them even hated him for a while.
Pogba, 23, has his emoji now, Rashford and Lingard are breakthrough England players, while Timothy Fosu-Mensah is getting there. Most importantly, they have that special something that separated the best from the rest witnessed during Joyce’s 20 years off and on as a United coach.
That something that helped him see who would ultimately make it — and who would not.
Joyce said: “Take Paul Pogba who I spent two-and-a-half years with the first time at United.
“I knew then that he was desperate to be a successful player at United, still is.
“Certainly he has God–given talent and has to hone it of course. But any coach who says they have ‘made’ a Pogba, Rashford or a Rooney are deluded.
“The talent they have is genetic. Pogba has it. He has fantastic physical, technical and mental attitudes.
“But he also has a massive heart and that is part of what helps him tick every box.
“You look at them then and look at them now and they pretty much get to where you thought they would.”
Joyce admits the start under him was not always pleasant.
He began work as Under-16 coach over two decades ago and spent the last eight years after a brief spell as boss of Hull managing the Under-23s and Under 21s.
He said: “I still speak to the young lads. They send their regards. It’s a weird one how the relationship evolves and you go from being their coach to a friend and mentor.
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“You end up with a different relationship to being the horrible sergeant major that they will probably have been accustomed to before reaching the next level.
“You are tough and ruthless and probably said some of the worst things you could ever imagine within dressing rooms or training grounds.
“Then when they’ve developed and gone on to flourish, you start speaking to them like a man.”
Most of those he worked with it did not make it at United.
Joyce reels off the names: “Ritchie De Laet, Danny Simpson, Phil Bardsley, Michael Keane, Jonny Evans, Craig Cathcart, Ryan Shawcross, Fabio and Rafael.
“You’ve got Danny Drinkwater, Tom Cleverley, Darron Gibson . . . Matty James was one of the top, top players but had injuries.
“There’s Josh King, Danny Welbeck, Adnan Januzaj, Ravel Morrison. You could go on and on about those that came through over the last eight years.
“They all had to go elsewhere but there’s no shame because so many were up against world–class players who were men.
“Nicky Butt. Paul Scholes. Ryan Giggs. Michael Carrick. They still wanted it. They were winning the Champions League, the Premier League, the cups.
“You’re talking really top players who were hungry, humble, still wanted to train hard every day for a world-class manager.
“So it’s difficult but that’s the level, that’s the detail of the demands we had to put on any young player.”
Then there are those who would not or could not be stopped and his eyes light up.
He talks about Rashford, for instance, and added: “There are certain tick boxes for the X factor players. Some — like Pogba — tick every box.
“The more x’s in those boxes the more difficult it is to reach the very top. But Marcus is in that same category as Pogba.
“He’s a good footballer as well as a goalscorer. He’s clever, he’s tough, he’s quick.
“You could stick players like them in all sorts of situations. They can almost play anywhere on the pitch.
“They can run, tackle, head it, they can score, pass it, dribble, they can keep ball. And they have the big hearts.
“It’s no shame so many of the 50, 80 players I worked with did not quite have that X factor.
“But what we did was try to put that stamp on them that said they were made at Manchester United.
“So when you see someone like Drinkwater doing so well that’s a great source of pride too. He still has that stamp — and so many others have too.”