“He was different”: Former United starlet names surprising Old Trafford hero as his favourite

Former Manchester United defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah has spoken out in support of one of his former teammates. United career The Dutch defender joined Manchester United’s academy in 2014 and made his debut in the 2016 season. Fosu-Mensah played in a number of positions across the defence and midfield for Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. His most productive season came under Jose Mourinho in 2016-2017, when he played 11 times for the senior side. He could never really find a place in the first eleven, and he was sold to Bayer Leverkusen. Fosu-Mensah was hampered by numerous recurrent injuries and left the club in 2024. He is still a free agent. Paul Pogba In a wide-ranging interview with Sky Sports, Fosu-Mensah gave his thoughts on Manchester United’s most expensive ever signing, Paul Pogba. The defender admitted that Pogba was a player whom he had looked up to even before sharing a pitch with him. He explained, “Paul [Pogba] is definitely up there because before I came to United and I was at Ajax, I was a centre-back but also a defensive midfielder and Paul was already doing well in Juventus so I was big fan of him already.” The Dutch international continued, “if you ask me who the player I looked up to, people would expect you to say maybe Maldini, Ronaldinho – these are great players but for me I’ve seen Paul and what he was doing at Juventus – I think at maybe 19 or 20, I was a fan of him because he was different.” Fosu-Mensah explained that you can only really appreciate Pogba as a player when you “see him up close” and that you could pass to him in any situation and he would always “own the ball.” He elaborated by stating, “he is so skilful, left-foot or right-foot, technically he is great and maybe he doesn’t get his flowers now but he will definitely get them later.” Timothy Fosu-Mensah career stats ClubGames playedGoalsYears active Man United3002015-2021 Crystal Palace (loan)2402017-18 Fulham (loan)1302018-19 Bayer Leverkusen3002021-2024 The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Alex Browne Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Alex has a Master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and La Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. Having lived in the country since 2011, Alex is The Peoples Person’s Spanish football expert and is fluent in both Spanish and Catalan. He dreams of witnessing a United captain triumphantly hoisting the Premier League and Champions League trophy in the air once more.