Paul Pogba has been implored to ‘hurry up and play’ by a former Manchester United teammate as his Monaco debut edges closer.The 2018 World Cup-winning midfielder returned to football after a two-year absence by signing for the Ligue 1 side in the summer.Pogba was in the stands for Monaco’s recent draw with Man CityGettyHowever, his lengthy absence from action meant it has taken the 32-year-old over three months to build up his fitness.Former Monaco manager Adi Hutter claimed there was hope Pogba would be involved in the squad for the 2-2 derby draw with Nice.That failed to come to fruition, with the club’s game against Angers on Saturday instead likely to be his comeback game.His former Man United teammate, Jesse Lingard, is among the fans itching to see Pogba return to the pitch.The ex-England international, who is currently plying his trade in South Korea for FC Seoul, posted on social media: “Hurry up and play we wanna see you ball out man.”Pogba and Lingard both emerged from the United youth system in 2011, and reunited when the former returned to Old Trafford five years later.This week, Pogba shared a series of snaps smiling in training, despite the upheaval with Sebastien Pocognoli replacing Hutter as manager.The France international was initially given a four-year ban after testing positive for raised levels of testosterone in October 2023.Pogba, at Juventus at the time, lodged a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and it was reduced to 18 months.He later had his contract in Italy terminated, and ultimately joined a Monaco side that earned Champions League qualification by finishing third in Ligue 1 last season.InstagramLingard fired a motivational message for Pogba ahead of his return[/caption]The pair were both youth team stars at UnitedGettyPogba and Lingard reunited under Jose Mourinho at Old TraffordAFP or licensorsWhat can we expect from Pogba’s comeback?European football broadcaster Andy Brassell offered an exclusive insight into Pogba’s behind-the-scenes role at Monaco thus far.“No one has any idea what Pogba’s gonna be like when he’s back,” he told talkSPORT.com, “It is so long since he played, it’s really unprecedented.“For a top-level player to be out of the game and the player he was to be out of the game this long. And we have no idea what it’s reasonable to expect from Paul Pogba when he comes back.“So if you were to say to me, when he comes back, he’s just gonna be a defensive midfielder, he’s gonna anchor himself in front of the defence, he’s gonna make challenges, make passes, not cover that much ground. And that’s the player he is from now on, I would believe you. “I just think he can’t be the player that he was before. He’s so unlikely that he’s the player he was before.GettyPogba could make his Monaco debut under Pocognoli[/caption]“Now, of course, he always needed quite specific conditions to thrive, which has been one of the criticisms of him, really, that he’s not been that adaptable. “I tend to think that he was a guy that Manchester United spent a world record fee on and that they didn’t build the team around him, which is a bit ridiculous, I think. “Not saying that none of his shortcomings at Manchester United were his fault, I just think he wasn’t given the ideal conditions to develop, and of course, he’s not the only player at Manchester United who’s been in that situation in the last couple of years. “So I think there has to be reasonable expectations on Pogba, but a lot of what Monaco were hoping for from him, they’ve already got.“He’s someone who’s made all the right moves from an aesthetic perspective. He was pictured at a game about a month ago wearing a Monaco top from 1997, when they won the league, and they had Ali Benarbia, John Collins, players like that, a fantastic Monaco team, and did really well in the Champions League as well.“Nods like that, and what he’s done for the other players and the younger players and developing younger players is, of course, the core part of what Monaco do.”Monaco have welcomed Pogba back to football’s elite club competitionGettyPogba is on a bit of a level with Eric DierAs his football comeback edges closer, Pogba has increasingly been in the dressing room before games in recent weeks.Brassell added: “The advice that he’s given younger players, lots of them have talked about it and said it’s been really valuable to them.“In that sense, he’s kind of on a bit of a level with Eric Dier, because that’s exactly why they brought Dier in, not just to play all the time, but he’s wearing the captain’s armband. He’s taking the pen against Manchester City. “Look, he’s a good set-piece taker, we know that. But the fact that Dier has gone from arriving to leader like that, and of course, he’s a very different personality from Paul Pogba. They’re very different.“But in a dressing room and at a club, which is very multinational, which has a very different atmosphere to a lot of other clubs, there’s not the same intense pressure that you would get at a Marseille or a PSG or a club like that. Dier took over penalty responsibilities against Man CityGetty“There are really, really high standards, of course, but you speak to people who played for Monaco, and they talk about the motivation having to come from within. “At the same time, it’s like somewhere where people from, talent from all different cultures, of different ages, different languages, all meet. “The fact that Pogba is garrulous and multilingual obviously makes him a potential hub of that. On the other hand, Eric Dier, who’s English, also grew up in Portugal, speaks Portuguese, so he’s able to communicate with the Brazilians.“As he showed on Mexican TV last month, he speaks excellent Spanish, and he learned it off the Argentinians at Spurs, he said on television.“So even though Dier’s significantly quieter, more softly spoken than Pogba, he’s just as much of a leader.”