Black Excellence | Paul Pogba

Today, not only will we explore black excellence, we are going to take a look at young black excellence. As overlooked as black excellence can be, that pales in comparison to the overlooking of young black excellence. It's become almost natural to focus only on the struggling youths in black culture, the "delinquents." This edition of black excellence in soccer will take a look at a young black man who is on the other end of the spectrum doing great things. Without further ado, I present to you, Paul Pogba.

Born in Lagny-sur-Marne, France on Mar. 15, 1993, Pogba will be turning 23 next month. Pogba has been around soccer his entire life, he has two older twin brothers who are also footballers.

Pogba started his career at the young age of six playing for US Roissy-en-Brie. Pogba spent seven seasons at the club before going to US Torcy to captain the under-13 team. After one season there Pogba began his professional career with Le Havre, here Pogba captained the under-16 team. Pogba, having established himself as a great international and domestic player, began gaining interest from Europe's premiere league and Series A league.

On Oct. 7, 2009, Pogba's transfer to Manchester United was completed. Pogba made his premiere league debut on Jan. 31, 2012.

On Aug. 3, 2013 Pogba signed a four-year contract with Italian side Juventus. This is where it became obvious Pogba was beginning to settle in. He began to score more goals and in December he was named 2013's Golden Boy for the best young player in Europe. In January of 2014, Pogba was named by The Guardian as one of the ten most promising young players in Europe. These honors were both capped off by winning his second consecutive Serie A title and reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League.

On Oct. 28. 2014, Pogba was named as one of the 23 shortlisted candidates for the 2014 Balon d'Or; at 21, he was the youngest on the list. That same year Pogba was awarded the Bravo Award by the Italian sports magazine II Guerin Sportivo, which is given to the best under-23 player who has participated in European competitions.

On Nov. 24, 2015 Pogba was nominated for the 2015 UEFA Team of the Year, later being named to team in January of 2016. On the eleventh of January Pogba was named to the 2015 FIFA FIFPro World XI.

It is extremely evident that this black man has had a very established career winning numerous awards, what makes it even more amazing, is that he has done it all before the age of 23. This young man is role model worthy and is definitely cementing himself as a legend. Paul Pogba is not great some days, but everyday.

In the spirit of Paul Pogba, I would like to recognize that Black Excellence is not limited to the month of February, so I am pleased to announce that the good folks here at TDT will be extending Black Excellence as an ongoing series. Black Excellence will run as long as there is Black Excellence in the world.