From doubted to dominator: Paul Pogba’s World Cup evolution

The midfielder came in to the tournament with concerns about his role in the team; he ended it dabbing and dancing as the heart of the France side

If ever there was a time for Paul Pogba to dab and dance, to snapchat and sing to his heart’s content without giving a soul with any sense the opportunity to even tut, this was it. With Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium his stage, he dabbed with president Macron. He dabbed with his mother and brothers on the pitch. He dabbed with an iconic 36.8cm piece of sculpted gold that means everything in football. A world champion, a scorer of a goal that felt result-defining in the final, a fulcrum for his team, a massive personality revered back home, the only thing missing was a hairdresser on hand to create a World Cup-shaped cut to mark this most glorious of moments.

With Pogba in his exuberant element – the master of social media filming non-stop in the dressing room, on the bus, encouraging all sorts of celebratory flourishes with his band of World Cup-winning brothers – he felt so central to everything about this French generation. During the course of this tournament his status within the group has changed, and even for his own teammates it was difficult to articulate exactly what it was and how it happened. But everyone could feel it. “I can tell you that Paul Pogba, I don’t know how and I don’t know from where, has become a leader,” announced Adil Rami. “He proved it to us. He showed it. He’s the one that showed the way. He was the strong man of the France team.”

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