News of Paul Pogba’s imminent arrival at Manchester United for £89 million has been met with bemusement by some football fans.

Not only is the preposterous amount further proof of how bombastic and bloated transfer fees have become, but Pogba’s performance in the Euro 2016 final, which resulted in Portugal shocking France to win the tournament, has been cited as clear evidence that he’s not worth the substantial amount about to be paid for him.

But is it actually true that Pogba hasn’t done enough to cost such an amount? While his performance against Portugal was admittedly poor, let’s not forget that he was still playing in the Euro 2016 final, on the way to which he’d put in a stellar first half performance against Iceland in the quarter-final and provided the assist for Antonine Griezmann’s crucial second goal against Germany in the semi-final.

Sure, football is so cut-throat that the ends usually justify the means, but it’s overly simplistic to insist that France’s inability to beat Portugal somehow conclusively proves that Pogba is over-priced. Or that Lionel Messi’s failure to win on the international stage means he isn’t one of the best football players of all time. Or that because Portugal beat France in Euro 2016 Cristiano Ronaldo now eclipses his Argentinian rival.

Aged just 23 years and four months, Paul Pogba has won Serie A for four consecutive seasons on the trot. In fact, for the past two seasons he’s also won the Coppa Italia as Juve claimed the double, while last season he was top of Series A’s assist charts (an even more impressive feat considering Juve’s disastrous start that provoked them to win 25 of their last 27 games), and he also made it to the Champions League final in 2014/2015, where Juve were beaten by Barcelona.

That’s before we get into his playing style, that because of his sudden bursts of energy, ability to turn defence into attack, and combination of power, skill, and creativity means he’s a truly unique talent that has rightfully earned comparisons to both Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure.

Surely such success means that Manchester United were well within their rights to break the world transfer record for Paul Pogba, especially when Juventus themselves proved how volatile the market currently is when they splashed £75 million on 28-year-old Gonzalo Higuain.

Not only that, but a quick comparison of Paul Pogba’s achievements against Gareth Bale’s at Tottenham before Real Madrid broke the world transfer record to purchase him for £85 million back in 2013 is further evidence that Pogba’s sum isn’t actually overly inflated.

Before joining Real Madrid at the age of 24, Gareth Bale’s only medal was as a runner-up for Tottenham Hotspur in the 2008/2009 League Cup, which Manchester United won on penalties. Instead it was Bale’s electric performances in the Champions League for Spurs against Inter Milan in 2010, and his consistent bouts of brilliance between 2011 and 2013, which still didn’t push Tottenham to Champions League qualification, that were deemed worthy enough for Madrid to pay such riches.

Obviously, Bale’s two Champions Leagues, Copa Del Dey, Fifa Club World Cup, and UEFA Super Cup at the Bernabeu, prove that he was a worthy acquisition. But like Bale before his move to Madrid, Pogba’s talent is still raw, and can now be developed as well as moulded by Jose Mourinho.

Of course, United already had the chance to do just that before they let him go to Juventus for basically zilch back in 2011. But it’s likely that this set-back was the catalyst for Pogba to prove himself, while it’s also just as likely that if he had developed at Old Trafford like he has in Turin he’d now be considering a move abroad, too. The grass is always greener.

It’s now up to Manchester United to make it fertile for Pogba’s already established talents, and for him to prove that he’s actually worth such a fee.

[Images via Getty/Giuseppe Bellini & Getty/Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno]