Graeme Souness renews criticism of Paul Pogba during podcast appearance

Souness was a regular critic of Pogba during his time at Manchester United

Souness left Sky Sports at the end of last season (PA Archive)

Graeme Souness has renewed his criticism of Paul Pogba as he labelled the former Manchester United midfielder a “lazy t***” during a live podcast appearance.

Souness was a regular critic of Pogba during his time at Old Trafford, as the French World Cup winner struggled to live up to his £89m price tag.

The former Sky Sports pundit questioned Pogba’s performances and work ethic on numerous occasions following his move to the Premier League in 2016.

Souness, who left Sky Sports after 15 years at the end of last season, has now said that Pogba “should have been one of the best midfield players in the world” but did not make the most of his talent because he “wanted to be the star of the show”

The former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder made the comments on the Second Captains podcast and was then asked if he felt his criticism of Pogba ever went too far, to which he replied: “Not for a nanosecond, no, he’s a lazy t**t.”

Pogba left United last summer to rejoin Juventus, where he has been provisionally suspended from football after returning an adverse sample during an anti-doping test.

The 30-year-old signed for United in 2016 in what was a Premier League record fee but rarely produced his best football for his club.

Souness developed a reputation for his continued criticism of Pogba at the time, but the France international never hit back despite having the opportunity to do so.

In 2020, in response to a question about Souness, Pogba said he “didn’t even know who he (Souness) was”.