Paul Pogba’s position at Manchester United continues to generate debate, with Thierry Henry pointing out that he is no N’Golo Kante.
The Red Devils have struggled to bring the best out of an £89 million addition since he returned to Old Trafford from Juventus in the summer of 2016.
Part of the problem has been fitting him into a system which does not cater to his strengths, with Jose Mourinho’s tactical approach often asking him to operate deeper than he would prefer.
The arrival of Alexis Sanchez has shunted him further away from the playmaking posts, with recent displays seeing questions asked of his value to the collective cause.
Henry is, however, of the opinion that Pogba cannot be expected to produce his best when asked to take on a similar job to fellow Frenchman Kante at Chelsea.
He told Sky Sports: "I don’t think he is a holding midfielder. I didn’t think I was a winger but then I went to Barcelona and they asked me to do a job and [Jose] Mourinho is asking him to do a job.
"But does he have an impact on a game as a holding midfielder in the same way he had an impact against Everton or his Juventus days?
"At Juventus he used to play in a certain position where they clearly didn’t trust him in the middle of the park so they played him more on the sides.
"Then when he is on the ball he can have an amazing impact on the game.
"Can he do a job? Yes he can do a job, but is he N’Golo Kante? No.
"Kante senses dangers and knows what the ball is going to be. But he has that in his DNA.
Playing Surface/Getty"Paul Pogba has more in his DNA to be up there, create, try to do some skills like we saw against Everton."
Pogba has previously been irked by comparisons with Kante, with the 24-year-old of the opinion that he offers more to his respective club.
He told Sky Sports in April 2017: “I've heard Kante is a top, top midfielder, which I agree with. He is a top-class midfielder for what he does. But he doesn't score many goals, does he? They don't speak about this.
“They speak about what he does on the pitch. He gets the ball, he passes the ball and he makes the game. Me, I try to do this.
“I score more goals than Kante but they still say Kante does this and does that. If you want to speak about scoring goals, you should judge every midfielder the same way.
“They only speak about the transfer and about the money. I wanted to say, in real life for a normal person, nobody can be worth £100m.”