Pogba told to steer clear of ‘stupid haircuts’ and ‘gimmicks’

Joe Williams

Former Manchester United coach and current Wigan manager Warren Joyce has warned Paul Pogba not to indulge in “too many gimmicks,” while hitting out at Adnan Januzaj.

Joyce is preparing to face Pogba and United in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, with the 52-year-old having left his post as the club’s Under-21s manager to take over at Championship Wigan.

Having overseen the development of Pogba and a number of other young United stars during his eight-year spell at Old Trafford, Joyce is well-placed to discuss their prospects.

But he has delivered a warning to the world’s most expensive player, advising him to steer clear of “stupid haircuts” and “gimmicks”.

When asked whether the 23-year-old could become the best player in world football, Joyce said: “That depends on him, really.

“It depends whether he keeps having them stupid haircuts, and is involved in too many gimmicks off the field!

“I don’t know… That’s up to him what he does – and that’s me being critical of him. But you can’t remember Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs doing very much of that.

“I suppose I’ve just done their team-talk for them now! Can you leave that one out and do us a favour?”

Joyce also had some choice words for Januzaj, who has failed to establish himself at United after his breakthrough season in 2013/14.

The Belgian emerged as a fine talent in David Moyes’ only season as manager, but is now out on loan with relegation-battling Sunderland.

“The frustrating thing is seeing ones like Januzaj, [James] Wilson or Federico Macheda get up to that level and stop doing the work they did to get them to that level,” he added.

“Not play the games, not train as hard, sit in jacuzzis and not do the same weights and sessions they did to get there.

“Those are the frustrating ones for me, because that could be avoided.

“You’re in football for sport, to be competitive and try to do your best and challenge yourself, so those things are on the periphery.

“You either want to be in a boyband in a pop star environment, or a footballer.”