Former Manchester United defender Paul Parker says the club’s star midfielder Paul Pogba has issues with attitude and consistency that wouldn’t be accepted at Real Madrid or Barcelona – two clubs that have been linked with a move for the Frenchman.

The 26-year-old struggled to influence proceedings as United crashed out of the Champions League quarter-final this week after a 3-0 loss in the second leg against Barcelona.

Pogba was far from the only player who struggled but his performance brought renewed criticism of his ability to turn up for the big games – less than a year after starring in France’s World Cup triumph, where he scored in the final.

The performances he produced last summer in Russia haven’t come as often at United, even after a change in manager as Jose Mourinho’s departure and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s subsequent arrival brought an upturn in form.

Pogba is enjoying the most productive season of his career, with 16 goals and 10 assists. But in 12 games against the rest of the Premier League’s top six across all competitions and Champions League encounters against Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, and Barcelona, he’s managed just one goal and two assists, a lack of performance that Parker, who won two league titles in five seasons with United, highlighted as a cause for concern,

“There’s definitely ability with Pogba but if you want to be seen as the best you have to show consistency,” Parker told Eurosport.

“You can’t pick and choose when you want to play games of football because somewhere along the line it’ll come back and bite you.

“Now he didn’t perform under Jose Mourinho and everyone saw the problems with the former United boss as a person and as a man manager.

“When you’ve got someone who comes in and puts their arm around you and puts to bed the situation before, you can’t be letting them down and, more importantly, you can’t be letting your team-mates down.

“If you want to be seen or talked about or someone who’s maybe going to play for Real Madrid, they are not going to accept performances like that against Barcelona – and an attitude like that.”

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