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LONDON. – Following a season of fits and starts, Paul Pogba will be expected to deliver the goods when Manchester United tackle Ajax in the Europa League soccer final tonight. Much like his team, Pogba has shown only fleeting flickers of form since his world-record £89.3 million return to United from Juventus last year.

With Jose Mourinho’s side needing to beat Ajax to qualify for the Champions League, Pogba has a chance to both salvage his club’s season and silence his own critics. “When you pay nearly £90 million for someone, you would expect them to blow your mind away at times on the football pitch,” former England striker Alan Shearer wrote in The Sun recently.

“But there have not been many times – if any this season – when you have watched the former Juventus midfielder and thought, ‘Wow.’”

United’s meeting with Peter Bosz’s precocious Ajax team at Stockholm’s Friends Arena follows a difficult period for Pogba.

The 24-year-old France midfielder recently spent time on the sidelines with what Mourinho described as muscle fatigue.

Reports suggest he is receiving ongoing treatment for a hamstring problem that kept him on the sidelines for three weeks in late March.

It emerged recently that world governing body FIFA is investigating Pogba’s switch from Juventus amid reports his agent, Mino Raiola, made £41.3 million from the deal. Most gravely of all, Pogba recently lost his father, Fassou Antoine, who passed away following a long illness.

After a period of compassionate leave, Pogba returned to the starting XI against Crystal Palace on Sunday, contributing a goal and an assist as United closed their league campaign with a 2-0 win. – AFP.