It seems inappropriate to suggest that the worldwide pause on sport, as the consequence of an unprecedented global pandemic, came at a 'good time' for anyone.
For Paul Pogba, though - who is in line to start a fifth straight game for the first time this season when Manchester United take on Southampton on Monday - you could certainly make the case.
The Frenchman's injury troubles caused him to miss 22 league matches prior to the break, but since returning to the starting lineup against Sheffield United last month, he has looked a rejuvenated figure. His reinstatement into the team has coincided with four straight wins, each by a three-goal margin, that have United in the driving seat for a Champions League place.
“You can call it a proper team,” he told United Review, the club's official programme. “Sometimes before we were maybe too defensive or too offensive and we didn’t have this balance or this control. Now you can see we have that balance and there is more structure – we’ve been working hard on that.
“The improvement is huge and you can tell that. It’s always good to have that improvement, but you don’t want to stop it, you know you have to keep working.”
United's uptick in form has many suggesting they could challenge Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the table next season. Abridged league tables, calculating points won since Bruno Fernandes' January arrival, have United out in front, but Pogba is refusing to get ahead of himself for now.
Manchester United since ?? Bruno Fernandes joined. pic.twitter.com/hJFdVy1oLf
— PortugueseSoccer.com ⚽️ (@PsoccerCOM) July 12, 2020
“There is a lot of stuff to do, we are not there yet, but we are on the way, and if we keep doing what we’re doing now, then I think there is nothing that can stop us to get to where we should be.
"We feel great. That is the mentality now – you have a positive mentality when you have a good result, but you also have to have the ability to get through the games like we did in the last few games.
“Every game is a final and we have to get the result that we need – that’s the mindset. It’s never enough for us”
Source : 90min