Jose Mourinho surprised by Paul Pogba’s suggestions all is not well between manager and player

Sport360 staff 01:02 14/08/2018
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  • Jose Mourinho is understood to have been left surprised by World Cup-winning midfielder’s Paul Pogba’s suggestions that all is not well between the pair.

    In the aftermath of Manchester United’s 2-1 opening night Premier League win over Leicester on Friday, Pogba appeared to cast his United future into doubt.

    “There are things, and there are things that I cannot say, otherwise I will get fined,” said the Frenchman, who was named captain by his manager.

    Mourinho is expected to address the issue when he next speaks this week ahead of the game against Brighton on Sunday, although it is understood that Pogba’s words came out the blue for the United manager.

    Mourinho expects his players to raise any issues that they have with him to his face.

    The pair get on well together, Mourinho believes. There have never been any clashes on the training ground.

    PaulPogba (3)

    Having suggested Pogba had lack of focus during his time at United, Mourinho would have expected any comeback from the player before that first game against Leicester for which the player returned to the team ahead of schedule.

    Mourinho felt making him captain on the night was enough of a signal of faith in the player despite the comments by both sides over the course of the summer.

    The tension between the two has chiefly been created, Mourinho believes, by the player’s agent Mino Raiola while within the training ground there are no issues between the £89 million man and his manager.

    When Mourinho made his comments during the summer about a World Cup finals being the “perfect habitat” for Pogba, because he was “completely isolated from the external world”, it was the situation with Raiola that was central to his thinking.

    Whether Barcelona, who seem to be Pogba’s chief suitor, could afford the kind of fee to sign him either in this window or the next remains seriously in doubt.

    United believe that any pursuit of the player that continues to the end of the transfer window will be purely for the purpose of suggesting that Barca have ambition – if not the resources.

    Jose Mourinho handed Paul Pogba the captain's armband against Leicester.

    Jose Mourinho handed Paul Pogba the captain’s armband against Leicester.

    Barca’s preliminary financial figures for the year 2017-2018 were published last month and show that the club made an operating profit of €31 million for that period, despite selling Neymar for around €198m – all of which was paid up front as his release fee.

    The cost of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool and Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmunds is spread over the course of their five-year contracts.

    With profits of €31m it begs the question what costs have swallowed up the remaining €90-€100m from the Neymar deal, with Barca, like Real Madrid, also struggling with a wage bill of around €400m annually.

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