It’s cold Trafford as Pogba turns ever more frosty
MANCHESTER — By placing the captain’s armband on Paul Pogba, United manager Jose Mourinho might have thought he would quell growing speculation about the World Cup-winning midfielder’s future at Old Trafford.
But comments by Pogba and his outspoken agent over the past two days have only added to the uncertainty.
After what he acknowledged was a poor individual performance in United’s 3-2 loss at Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Sunday, Pogba said he “should have done much better” and that his attitude “wasn’t right”.
United’s sloppy display and Pogba’s central role in it attracted plenty of criticism, as with anything involving Britain’s biggest club.
One of its greatest players of recent years, Paul Scholes, lamented the “lack of leaders on the team,” a not-so-subtle condemnation of Pogba.
That prompted back-toback tweets on Tuesday from Mino Raiola, Pogba’s largerthan-life representative, who said Scholes “wouldn’t recognize a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill”.
Raiola followed that up with a post that was as scathing as it was intriguing.
“Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba,” he wrote, referring to United vice-chairman Ed Woodward, widely considered the most powerful figure at Old Trafford besides members of the Glazer family. “Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club,” Raiola added.
The fact the agent veered toward the topic of Pogba’s future appears significant. The midfielder could still be sold to a leading European club this month. The transfer window remains open in Spain, for example, with Pogba reportedly keen on a switch to Barcelona.
Raiola knows his tweets will be widely picked up and only serve to fuel talk of Pogba’s reported unrest at United. “Mino Raiola” was trending online in Britain throughout Tuesday.
The relationship between Pogba and Mourinho appeared strained last season.
The midfielder — who was signed for a then-worldrecord fee of $116 million from Juventus in 2016, was dropped for crucial matches, notably home and away against Sevilla in the last 16 of the Champions League when United exited in meek fashion.
In discussing Pogba’s impressive displays for France at the World Cup, Mourinho tempered praise of the player by saying: “I don’t think it’s about us getting the best out of him, it’s about him giving the best he has to give.”
Mourinho’s decision to give Pogba the captaincy for the start of the season, while regular skipper Antonio Valencia is injured, was notable.
Pogba responded by scoring in United’s opening-day 2-1 win over Leicester in the Premier League on Aug 10, but muddied the waters when responding to reporters’ questions after the match about his current situation.
“There are things I can say and there are things that I cannot say,” he said, somewhat cryptically. “Otherwise I will get fined.”
Mourinho insisted last week that he “couldn’t be happier” with Pogba, but the midfielder’s explanation for his performance against Brighton didn’t shine a positive light on his manager.
It has come at a time when Mourinho’s position is coming under intense scrutiny, having been at odds with United’s board over transfer strategy in the offseason and specifically the failure to sign a new centerback.
Throughout his managerial career, Mourinho’s third season at a team is usually when problems begin to surface. It happened in both of his spells at Chelsea and also at Real Madrid.