Paul Pogba defends Everton ace Dele Alli in recent criticism of media who ‘were killing him’
Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba has commented on Everton ace Dele Alli in his most recent interview, criticising the media for “killing him” instead of anybody asking what was going on in his life.
The interview has emerged shortly after Pogba himself was reported to have a failed drug test [The Guardian, 11 September] and was provisionally suspended, with Juve saying they will “evaluate the next procedural steps”.
Pogba stated that players are not prepared for the intense media focus on them, and they just want to play football and perform while people are “destroying” and “killing” them.
The midfield superstar spoke to Al Jazeera on 11 September, where he slammed media outlets, stating: “I saw Dele Alli do the interview. It is so easy now he’s spoken out for everybody to be behind, support him but for so long they’ve been killing him.
“But who, when they were killing him, I saw nobody in the media ask him what’s going on, mentally and stuff like that.
“We’re going through a lot, we grew up to play football, we didn’t grow up to get ready for the media. They will bring you up so high, then bring you down to destroy you. I didn’t learn to get ready for the negative talk, the criticism – I just came to play football.
“I was with my friends playing, then you get to a first team, you play and score goals, get all the praise, hailed as the best young player.
“Then, things happened in his life and they’re destroying him, no one is asking if he’s okay, they don’t care.”
A lesson that we can never truly know
When Dele’s interview with Gary Neville was released, everybody took a step back. It was a lesson that the hyper-critical stance taken around footballers’ performances doesn’t take into account anything that may be happening behind the scenes.
While Pogba doesn’t make any claims about things happening in his personal life, there can be no doubt that media discourse around him throughout his career has been cynical and dismissive, and with the latest allegations, it has turned sour once more.
Not too long ago, the midfielder was being heavily criticised on a weekly basis at Manchester United, and he eventually opted to depart the Premier League for a return to Juve in Serie A.
So perhaps everybody should take a step back once again and think about what Dele said, and how we all reacted, and consider once more whether there may be more than meets the eye.
In other Everton news, a senior Everton player could be on the verge of an exit.