Paul Pogba should lose the ‘stupid haircuts’ if he wants to be an all-time great, says Wigan boss Warren Joyce ahead of Manchester United clash
Joyce also suggested that the world's most expensive player never wanted to leave United in 2012
WIGAN boss Warren Joyce has called on Paul Pogba to cut out the "off-field gimmicks" if he wants to be an Old Trafford legend.
Joyce managed the Frenchman when he played for United's reserve team and takes his Latics side to Old Trafford for tomorrow's FA Cup Fourth Round match.
Ahead of the clash, he was asked whether Pogba could become the best in the world and said: “That depends on him, really.
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"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."
But Joyce quickly backtracked when he realised he might have given the world record signing extra motivation for tomorrow's match.
He said: “I suppose I’ve just done their team-talk for them now! Can you leave that one out and do us a favour?
“He always had that goal [of being the best]. Whether he was regarded as it or not, he wanted to be the best player in the world.
"He said it openly, and set his standards to try and do that. He’s always had that inner drive and belief to want to do that.”
The Wigan boss also opened up on Pogba's attitude when he played under him.
He was as surprised as anyone when the midfielder chose to leave Old Trafford for Juventus and believes agent Mino Raiola's hand may have been behind the move.
Joyce said: “I don’t know the agent at all, so it’s difficult to talk about.
“All I do know is that Paul played for us in the Manchester Senior Cup final on May 17 at the Etihad, two days after Manchester City had won the Premier League.
“He was still desperate to play for United in a reserve final and, if he breaks his leg [in that match], he isn’t going to Juventus two days later.”
And he blasted some of United's biggest young talents for failing to show the commitment necessary to enjoy a career at the highest level.
Stating that the unfulfilled potential of some of his former youngsters still grates at him, Joyce said: “The frustrating thing is seeing ones like Januzaj, Wilson or Federico Macheda get up to that level and stop doing the work they did to get them to that level.
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“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."
The Red Devils' match against Joyce's Wigan is expected to see Jose Mourinho hand a rare start to bad boy Anthony Martial.
The former Monaco star's agent has agitated for a January move to Sevilla, but the Special One is willing to give him one last chance to prove himself at Old Trafford.