Hugo Lloris believes France team-mate and Manchester United star Paul Pogba is judged unfairly because of his transfer fee.
Pogba has come in for criticism due to the inconsistency of his performances since returning to United from Juventus for £89million in 2016 – a world-record fee at the time.
The World Cup-winning midfielder has also been the subject of reports of a falling out with United manager Jose Mourinho this season.
France and Tottenham goalkeeper Lloris, however, leapt to the defence of his 25-year-old international team-mate.
"I don't watch all Manchester United games," Lloris said. "But he [Pogba] has a status in the UK, maybe because of his huge transfer fee.
"Sometimes people judge him not very fairly. Now he has more maturity, he knows what he needs to do, he proves that with us.
"I think his performances at United are far from being as bad as people say. He is part of a team which has worse results than we could have expected, that's for sure, but they are still a very strong team. When it matters, he is there."
Pogba has scored four goals in all competitions this season, two of those coming in the Premier League as United prepare to face joint-leaders Chelsea on Saturday.
