Manchester United's Paul Pogba simply hasn't looked himself this season.
There's no denying that the World Cup winner is one of the sport's finest midfielders on his day, but despite being two months into the season, United are yet to see the best from their record signing.
His early displays could seemingly be excused by a lack of match fitness, something he wouldn't have been alone in after a minimal pre-season, not to mention testing positive for COVID-19.
Pogba continues to struggle
However, as the weeks have progressed, you get the feeling that Pogba's poor form has, well, simply been poor form and the defeat to Arsenal on Sunday compounded that suspicion.
United supporters were given unwanted flashbacks to the 6-1 Tottenham Hotspur defeat when the Frenchman cheaply hacked down Hector Bellerin in the box to concede a game-deciding penalty.
Simply put, Pogba didn't look at the races and you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be weighing up benching him for summer signing Donny van de Beek.
Is Pogba world-class?
Either way, there can be no denying that Pogba needs to pick up his performances, otherwise the rumour mill of an impending exit will crank into gear regardless of his one-year contract extension.
Besides, Pogba sympathisers are proving fewer and farther between these days and it seems as though the 27-year-old can't even count on someone with deep links to the Old Trafford club.
That's because René Meulensteen, who served as the first-team coach under Sir Alex Ferguson between 2007 and 2013, has given a scathing review of Pogba after his Arsenal nightmare.
Meulensteen dishes out the criticism
According to Goal, the former Fulham manager told Stadium Astro: “You can have all the talent in the world but it’s about hard work, and it’s hard work that brings that quality to the surface.
“For me, he hasn’t worked hard enough. I can see it all the time, it’s too slow, it’s laboured and there is no urgency about it and other teams can capitalise on it.
“He is a very talented player. Everyone keeps talking about him – he’s world-class, he’s world-class.
“I would never use world-class so easily because I know players past and present and they deserve the accolade of being world-class. In my opinion, Paul doesn’t deserve that in any shape or form because I don’t think he’s lived up to expectations.
“I don’t think we expect too much of him because of the player he has been and the trophies he has won.
“We need to expect even more from him, but that only comes from working hard. That then rubs off on other players. Not working hard does as well because they start to question those performances.”
GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says
Sheesh, tell us how you really feel, René.
For my money, Pogba must be considered world-class because there are probably less than 20 players in the sport who have more raw ability and talent than him, but something simply isn't right.
Whether it's an issue surrounding effort as Meulensteen alludes to, I simply can't say, but whatever's holding back Pogba from producing his best form with United is a shame for everybody.
Under the right circumstances, you can't help feeling that Pogba should be an absolute world-beater at Old Trafford, yet we're here going round in circles again asking questions about his output.
It's approaching four years since he returned to United and you have to wonder whether Pogback has taken the player Pogbackwards.