Nemanja Matic has revealed that Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba were frequently guilty of being late as the former Manchester United midfielder lifted the lid on the alarming indiscipline during his time at the club.
In a frank admission about the problems he encountered at Old Trafford, Matic, who left United in 2022, said lateness was such a perennial issue that he collected around £75,000 in player fines in one single season.
Matic joined United for £35 million in 2017 from Chelsea – where he won two Premier League titles – and admitted there was a marked difference in the level of professionalism at the two clubs.
“At Chelsea, players acted professionally, they were punctual and were never late for training but at United it happened almost every day,” Matic, who is now at Roma, told YouTube channel YU Planet.
“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.”
‘Too many bad attitudes’
Sancho – whose time keeping issues are well known – is still at the club but has been banished from the first team for the past three months after a falling out with manager Erik ten Hag. Pogba exited in June last year at the same as Matic after a disappointing and controversy strewn second spell at the club from the France midfielder.
Alan Shearer, the former Newcastle and England striker, said at the weekend there were “too many bad eggs” and “too many bad attitudes” in the United team, following their 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park.
Shearer was particularly scathing of the defensive efforts of Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, who both came in for criticism for their perceived lack of effort at the weekend.
Speaking on Match Of The Day, Shearer said: “They (Newcastle) absolutely battered Man United in wide areas. (Kieran) Trippier and (Tino) Livramento were sensational against (Aaron) Wan-Bissaka and (Diogo) Dalot.
“In their defence, they got no help whatsoever from (Alejandro) Garnacho and (Marcus) Rashford.
“Rashford didn’t look at it at all – didn’t look interested. It happened so many times. Newcastle created so many chances and they should have had many goals.
“For me, there are too many bad eggs in that Man United team. Too many bad attitudes.
“It’s alright when things are going well for you, you can get your feet on the ball, play and pick your head up when things are nice and rosy.
“When it’s not going for you, when you’re a bit tired and you’ve got to roll your sleeves up, there’s not enough characters in that team.”
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
