Gary Neville slams Pogba & Sancho after Matic questions their professionalism

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·8 December 2023

Gary Neville slams Pogba & Sancho after Matic questions their professionalism

Nemanja Matic gave an eye-opening interview recently where he questioned Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho's professionalism. The Serbian, who now plays for Ligue 1 outfit Rennes, started off his Premier League career in 2009 with Chelsea.

After short spells at Vitesse and Benfica, Matic returned to Chelsea in 2014, where he was a key player for a few years before joining Manchester United in a £40m move in 2017. Matic's time at the Red Devils came to an end in 2022 when he departed for Roma.

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A year after his departure from the club, Matic has given a very honest interview to YuPlanet where he laid bare some of the problems behind the scenes at United. He revealed the differing levels of professionalism at Chelsea and United and called out two of his former teammates, Pogba and Sancho, for constantly being late to training.

It got to the point where Matic set up a committee to fine those that were constantly late but that didn't make much of a difference as he collected nearly £100k over the course of the season. He said:

"At Chelsea, players acted professionally. They were punctual and were never late for training. But at United it happened almost every day. Among the players who would always be late were Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho, and a couple of other players. "The rest of us who were always on time were angry so we decided to form a kind of an internal disciplinary committee with me serving as its president. "I put a sheet of paper up on the wall where I documented the names of individuals arriving late. During one particular season we collected around £75,000 in fines. We had planned to use the money to throw a party in London but we didn't due to the Covid outbreak."

Gary Neville reacts to Nemanja Matic's comments about Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho

Matic's comments have been a big talking-point in recent times, with many unimpressed with the two players he called out. Gary Neville has now given his thoughts on Matic's revelation, detailing how he felt when he was late to training. He said on the Stick to Football podcast:

“I remember being late once when I was coming into Carrington, once in 20 years. I got stuck in horrendous traffic; I was never late. I was ringing up, I was frantic, I was absolutely devastated. “Just the standards that I set, just if anyone else was late I’d criticise people, because that is the most disrespectful thing you can do, making your teammates wait. Working hard goes without saying, but if everyone is waiting for you, you can’t be that person in life.”

Neville then went in hard on Pogba and Sancho and said that Matic's comments make him angry.

“I have been soft on the [Manchester United] players for 12 months because I’ve focused on the rotten environment with the ownership, there’s difficulties at the club for players to succeed just with everything that’s around them. A lot’s not right with the club, and hopefully new ownership will sort it out. “But what we’ve heard from Nemanja Matic in the last week about lateness is something that just riles me. The biggest betrayal you can have in a football dressing room is when players or players’ representatives are going to the media to undermine the manager and other players in your dressing room. “Honestly, that is unforgivable. For me, I concentrated when I heard these stories on ‘here we go again, they’re going to try and get another manager sacked’, ‘another group of players thrown out’, and you know it's happening and that it’s been fed. “I thought ‘stop winging, shut your mouths, work as hard as you can, and the day after, come back and do it again’ – that’s it. I have some sympathy with them at the moment and how it is at the club, the continuing poor recruitment, negativity, lack of sporting department. I’ve given them a pretty easy ride – but I have no sympathy at all for them if they are leaking stories or if they are being late.”

Sancho remains in the cold at United after falling out with Erik ten Hag following comments made on social media in September. A January move looks on the cards with the situation showing no signs of being resolved. Pogba, meanwhile, is at Juventus but is on the verge of being given a hefty ban after failing a drugs test.