'Pogba unfairly judged on price-tag and haircuts'
Owen Hargreaves believes criticism of Paul Pogba's Manchester United performances is down to his world-record transfer fee and hair style.
Paul Pogba is being unfairly criticised because of the size of his transfer fee and for regularly changing his haircut, according to former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
The France international signed from Juventus for a world-record fee of £89.3million in August and has received mixed reviews for his performances since returning to Old Trafford.
Pogba has struggled to impose himself on big matches but has scored seven goals in all competitions this season, with Hargreaves – as manager Jose Mourinho has done - insisting the 24-year-old is performing to a good standard.
"People are judging the price-tag, people are judging the haircuts and all these other flash things they see," Hargreaves said to BT Sport ahead of United's Europa League tie against Rostov on Thursday.
"But you look at his stats over the last four seasons: 10 goals and 10 assists, this is what you get, and he's on track for that.
"The whole point is he went from a great Juventus team with [Carlos] Tevez, [Arturo] Vidal and [Andrea] Pirlo and he was one player in a great group of players.
"But now, because of the price-tag, he is the focal point - 10 goals and 10 assists, that's him - but he's going to have to step that up a little bit because the price-tag is so high and the team will expect more from him.
"I think he's played well but people are judging him on his price-tag."