Manchester United academy director Nicky Butt believes there was a chance Paul Pogba could have stagnated had he not left for Juventus in 2012.
Pogba left Manchester United for Juventus as it became clear that former manager Sir Alex Ferguson was not yet ready to play him regularly in the first team.
The Frenchman became a mainstay at Juventus and Manchester United eventually paid a then world record fee of £89m to get him back in 2016 from the Italian champions.
While the Frenchman has attracted criticism for his inconsistencies, he remains a highly rated player and is considered one of the top midfield operators in Europe.
And Butt believes it was a blessing in disguise for Manchester United that Pogba left as he could have easily stagnated playing reserve football for the club had he continued.
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“If he had stayed here and stagnated, he might never have been a footballer”, the Manchester United academy director told the BBC.
“There are players who go into the reserves for two or three seasons and they tread water. Pogba could have been one of those.
“When he was here, so were Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, who weren't exactly average players.
"Pogba left and became probably the best midfielder in the world at Juventus.
“We were lucky enough to get him back here but it is a massive feather in our cap that we helped him develop.”
Manchester United have been relegated from the top tier of the reserve Premier League, but Butt is not a fan of the Under-23s concept.
He said: “If you are not around the first team at 20 or 21 you're not going to be, it's a fact.”
