Paul Scholes would 'kick' and 'launch' Paul Pogba in Manchester United training, reveals Rio Ferdinand
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Published 15/04/2023 at 12:05 GMT+1
At one time, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and Paul Pogba were team-mates at Manchester United and the former England central defender discussed the lengths that Scholes would go to in order to intimidate and toughen up the French central midfielder. Peter Crouch explained similar treatment dished out to Gareth Bale when the pair of them were colleagues at Tottenham.
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Rio Ferdinand revealed that Paul Scholes would ‘launch’ Paul Pogba in training to build his character.
The former Manchester United central defender discussed how younger players were treated in training, alongside former Tottenham forward Peter Crouch, who described similar treatment for Gareth Bale.
Ferdinand told BT Sport: “We had Walter Smith come and coach us, he had a six-month spell.
“He came from Rangers, obviously, a God-like figure. He used to ref the game - he didn’t have a whistle - he wanted to see people launching people. Other coaches would go, ‘Stop, right, go in guys.’
“He was like, ‘Carry on... play on!’”
Discussing Scholes’ method of challenging Pogba, he added: “Managers, when young players do come over, like to see them kicked a bit.
“Paul Pogba, super gifted player, [Paul] Scholes in particular used to launch - whether he saw him as a threat, I don’t know - he used to launch him, just kick him.
"He was so big and strong, with that great footwork, he used to hold Scholesy off. He would just kick through him, and everyone would play on. It was part of it, it was character-building.”
Crouch explained how Harry Redknapp would force Bale to get back to his feet after rough challenges.
“At Tottenham, when Gareth Bale was having a tough time,” he began. “People were going in on him and [Redknapp would tell the physio]: ‘Stay right there,’ and he’d have to get on with it himself.
“It felt like he needed to toughen him up a bit.”
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