PERHAPS we can blame lockdown for the selective memory loss among some as Paul Pogba is welcomed back into the Manchester United fold.
Forget the ankle injury that lasted almost a season.
The pictures and videos of him enjoying life in Dubai, shooting hoops in Miami and dancing at his brother’s wedding.
All while his team-mates were plugging away in the wet and cold of Carrington.
Then there was that unfortunate meeting with Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane, who just happened to be at the same Dubai hotel pool at the same time.
Of course, 12 months is a long time in football.
But let us not forget here is what he said this time last year: “I think, for me, it could be a good time to have a new challenge somewhere else.
“I am thinking of this, to have a new challenge somewhere else.”
Yet now we are to believe this same player is set to take United to a different level . . .
Ahead of tonight’s trip to Tottenham, excitement is growing at the thought of him sharing the same pitch as Bruno Fernandes, who has made a bigger impact in nine games at United than Pogba in four years.
Yet why should anything be different now?
Unless, of course, French midfielder Pogba, 27, has realised another big move is now off the table due to the financial hit football has taken due to the coronavirus lockdown.
No doubt, we will soon hear it has all been a media invention.
That he has always loved United and, of course, would love to sign a new deal and with it get a thoroughly undeserved pay rise.
Many staunch United fans, who do not need Twitter to have an opinion, will see through all this.
They will just wait for evidence on the pitch, even if it is seen from their TV sets for now.
A few good games behind closed doors will not cut it, either.
He needs to be the engine behind a title push next season to really prove himself, because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is building a team capable of that.
Whether Pogba deserves to be part of it is another thing.
At his brilliant best, with extra time and space in a dominant team like Juventus, there was not a problem.
In the four seasons Pogba was there — 2012 to 2016 — Juve won Serie A by 11, 17, 17 and nine points.
But it was another thing entirely trying to lift a fallen great like United.
When Pogba realised things were not going anywhere in terms of titles at United, he seemed to lose interest.
He could not even adhere to the instructions of a man who had won titles in three different countries — and tasted Champions League glory with two different sides.
You will certainly not have any social distancing fears tonight when Pogba and Jose Mourinho see each other again.
Ex-United manager Mourinho was spot on when he said, in the wake of Pogba’s 2018 World Cup triumph with France, that it was time the player delivered the same performances for his club.
Solskjaer is now making the same plea.
Yet he should not walk straight back into the starting line-up now he has shaken off one of the longest ankle injuries in football history.
Right up until lockdown Nemanja Matic, Scott McTominay, Fred and new-boy Fernandes were red hot.
There was a new-found harmony and determination in the United camp, which Solskjaer has worked hard to harness.
He now hopes to use that momentum to fire the club back towards where it needs to be.
Their impressive 11-game unbeaten run was achieved with hungry players who wanted to be there and help make United great again.
As Solskjaer said: “It’s just confirmed what we believe in.
“The team and the squad needed transition, it needed change and we have made that change, that cultural shift we believe in.”
Is it worth sacrificing that and shaking the side up just because Pogba is a big name?
No. He needs to earn his place back in the team and into the hearts of United fans.
That will take a lot more than a few good performances in an empty stadium.
Something worth remembering.
