Manchester United's Paul Pogba is never far from the limelight, whether that's for the right or the wrong reasons. With Mino Raiola continuing to create noise over his client's future at Old Trafford, even a solid performance in the Manchester derby wasn't enough to stop criticism from Gary Neville, while the Frenchman's stunner against West Ham failed to win over BBC Sport's Garth Crooks.Nonetheless, this is hardly new territory for Pogba. The fact of the matter is that his persona, or at least the wider perception of it, has a knack of dwarfing what he actually brings to Ole Gunner Solskjaer's team. But Thursday night's outing against Sheffield United provided a timely reminder of just how talented a player Pogba is.The defining moment came during the first-half when Pogba's perfectly-weighted ball over the Blades' defence found Anthony Martial, who duly took the ball away from the goalkeeper and slotted home to make it 2-1. However, that was ultimately just the icing on the cake. Pogba ran the show for United from the deep midfield role he's often accused of being unable to play effectively, as shown in the video below. 

The 27-year-old continually twisted and turned his way out of trouble, often before launching one of his trademark cross-field passes, while he weighed in with tackles and won his fair share of aerial duels as well - which all added up to a very complete and majestic performance in the engine room. 

In fact, throughout United's starting XI Pogba ranked second for touches, third for passes, joint-third for aerials won, and joint-third for tackles, demonstrating how he was very much in the thick of the action. 

Of course, the chatter surrounding Pogba's future will never go away - it has persisted for much of his United career, and his contract is now starting to wind down. 

But with Raiola most recently claiming the midfielder will be staying on until the summer, Solskjaer will at least have the benefit of the Frenchman's influence in the middle of the pitch for the rest of the season.