With that golden dyed stripe emblazoned in his hair and diamond encrusted silver earrings bearing his initials, “PP”, in each ear, Paul Pogba is hardly someone who wants to go unnoticed. He demands attention as much as he invites it.

Not all attention is welcome, though, and much like his manager at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho, who expressed hope that Pogba would be superseded this summer as the world’s most expensive footballer, the Frenchman is clearly not going to protest about Neymar taking over a mantle that, at times last season, appeared to weigh heavily.

The £198 million fee that Paris St-Germain paid Barcelona for the Brazil forward is more than double the £89 million sum that United handed Juventus for Pogba 12 months ago and, freed of what Mourinho described as a “problem tag”, the midfielder is already seeing a difference.

“Last season the first question from everyone was always all about the price tag,” Pogba said on Tuesday. “Now everyone is asking about the football. That tells you everything.”

Pogba is talking outside Old Trafford’s centennial suite, where a mural by Alec Monopoly, the cult American graffiti artist, is being unveiled in conjunction with United’s official watch sponsor, Tag Heuer. There is an inevitable buzz around Pogba, who is only too happy to try graffiting a United shirt adorned with his name before retreating to a corner to talk to a small huddle of reporters while hungry autograph hunters gather round with their pens and cameras.