Can't exactly have a lot of sympathy for the angle of "don't judge Pogba by his haircut", when he benefits so much from his brand and does so much to encourage it. Many modern footballers have it, because it's a social media phenomenon that comes easily to celebrity, that of the "influencer". The whole idea is to cultivate something greater than the individual, essentially a lifestyle you associate with them. You thought of Beckham you thought of the metrosexual craze, you think of Zlatan you think of this supreme cockiness. Pogba has actively been building his brand for years, and it's that of the young superstar, the flash, brilliant prodigy. When you have an image like that, you have to be on top for it to work. Look at Bendtner, who tried to create the same image and looked like a **** because he didn't back it up on the pitch. Not to mention the fact that when you're doing this so much off the pitch, purposefully putting yourself in the public eye and attracting attention, people are going to wonder why your mind isn't on the game solely ESPECIALLY as so much of the footballing press is still made of a generation who are not used to football as a global business.
If anything, I'd probably say it was more of a homophobic element more than anything, seeing as it's not black players or culture that causes ridicule in the majority of cases, but footballer's perceived foppishness and concern for their looks/fashion. Even that's reaching though.
(he meant it took a lot of mental strength to bounce backfrom his mistake, but even at that I don't think he bounced back and impressed, he was continuously dodgy)