If Paul Pogba was just another 24-year-old footballer making his way in the game, his exclusion from Manchester United’s starting XI against Huddersfield Town last week would barely have registered on anyone’s radar.
In the demanding world of modern football, plenty of players are dropped or ‘rested’ in order to coax a response if their form has been flagging or they’ve turned in one particularly abject performance. It is the nature of the beast in the age of big squads, high standards and shortages of patience.