Paul Pogba of Manchester United recently got himself into another controversy. In response to the criticism by former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness, Pogba claimed that he did not even know who Souness is.

"I didn't even know who he was, really. I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I know the face, but (not) the name," said Pogba. "I'm not someone who watches a lot of [punditry]. I watch a lot of football but I don't stay after the game to listen to what they say about why they did this, or why they did that. I like to focus on football."

Since he joined Manchester United at world-record 105-million-euro (about 114 million U.S. dollars) transfer fee in 2017, Pogba has faced criticism from different sides.

Soon, Pogba's new teammate Bruno Fernandes stood out to defend him.

"Paul is coming from a bad moment, because of the situation. When he played also, the club and the team was not good, because the expectations are high for Paul," said Fernandes to Man United's official website. "It's normal when you are in that situation you don't play like a superstar, because everyone expects from Paul like they expect from Ronaldo at Juventus or Messi at Barcelona."

However, the truth is, Pogba's performance has never matched his transfer fee or his 290,000 pound (about 362,000 U.S. dollars) weekly salary. He only played seven games for the team this season before he was ruled out for confusing injuries and illnesses.

Meanwhile, what Pogba did off the field kept placing him under fire. He seems to be paying more attention to what hairstyle he should wear than working hard in training. His name kept being connected with Real Madrid while his agent, from time to time, leaked to the press stories of Pogba's willingness to leave Old Trafford.

The Red Devils expected Pogba to be the team's savior, but Fernandes might be right; he's not on Messi nor Ronaldo's level after all.