Rio Ferdinand has defended Paul Pogba from critics who have questioned the some of the decisions made by the Manchester United star.
The Frenchman has regularly come under fire for his actions on and off the field.
Since his £89m move from Juventus in 2016 he has struggled to regularly produce and has been injured for much of the current season, but that hasn't kept him out of the headlines.
He and his agent Mino Raiola have been called out for appearing to push for a move away with Real Madrid and Juventus both interested.
But Ferdinand believes Pogba acts like any footballer nowadays and should not be criticised by those who achieved success in previous generations.
"A lot of it is from social media – a lot of what they say stems from his social media presence and a lot of those guys are old school," Ferdinand said on his official YouTube channel.
"[Ex-pros] want people to follow suit of those before them, they want people to be serious about the game, not broadcasting stuff on social media. He's injured, going to a wedding and dancing, in the changing room and dancing – this is Pogba, that's his life, the way he is.
"You can't beat him with a stick because that's his personality, he's different. This generation of player is different to my generation and even more different to the likes of Keane and Souness.
"The landscape has changed so much that we can't expect them to behave the way we did.
"Pogba doesn't drink, he's not a nightclub merchant, but he goes on social media. What's worse? Because the people we were talking about before, like myself, would be in a nightclub, or drinking at times, but he doesn't do that.
"But he's still being vilified for being present, happy. And that's a big thing – he's being happy while injured. I don't agree with that [criticism] – mental health is a big issue, if you can't be yourself in your downtime while injured… What do people expect? You to sit around and be depressed?
"To keep on absolutely pounding him with blame and bringing his name into the conversation right now in such a negative way. He's played seven [Premier League] games this season, and he's the focal point as to why United aren't doing so well. How does that happen, how is he to blame?"
