BARGAIN!
LUKE IS A SHAW THING
Eyebrows were raised in the summer when Manchester United splashed out a massive £89million to secure his services from Juventus.
Especially after Sir Alex Ferguson showed Pogba the Old Trafford door in 2012 for not signing a new contract and showing “disrespect” to the club. He left on a free transfer.
But Pogba has already displayed to Mourinho, his United team-mates and the faithful that the skyscraper-high fee shelled out to the Italian giants is worth every penny.
And, in time, the boss believes players without his touch of undoubted class will command the same fee and above to make his megastar signing look like the bargain of the century.
Mourinho is looking ahead to that time when Pogba, 23, will lose his world-record price tag – and he can be talked about for his class and not his value.
He said: “The scrutiny that’s on him is difficult. When he plays very, very well which he does many, many times, people think it is normal.
“Yet when he has a game when he is not so happy and he doesn’t perform so well, you guys, the pundits and even the supporters go strong on him.
“But that’s the price of being who he is and is also the price of his fee.
“I am pretty sure that next summer some players with only half his quality will probably cost the same money or JOSE MOURINHO has confirmed that Luke Shaw still has a Manchester United future despite being repeatedly left in the shadows.
Shaw, 21, was overlooked again for the Europa League match with St Etienne at Old Trafford on Thursday night raising more doubts about his United career.
In fact, the England left-back has appeared only once in United’s last 17 matches after recovering from injury nightmares.
But Mourinho, when asked if Shaw (right) will not be there for the long haul, said: “No, no. He will be for sure. That is out of the question.
“What I think is that he had a very ugly injury. Really, really ugly. This season he has had a couple of small injuries and he needs to adapt. He knows what I like in a defender.
“He knows that I like stability. That I don’t like mistakes. That for me it is to trust a player totally and he has to work to get it. And when he’s on the pitch again he has to try to give me that step by step.
“Because he is still only a young player and sometimes people forget he is only a young player with a lot to learn. But I like the player and I like the boy.”
STEVE MILLAR STEVE MILLAR more. So I am waiting for that moment to release him from the scrutiny.
“But I am really happy with his football and his happiness to play football. The most important thing for him is not to lose that happiness.” And Mourinho reckons the rapid rise in the cost of the megastar players – the days have long gone when Real Madrid broke records by paying £56m and £45m for Kaka and Zinedine Zidane respectively – will see Pogba’s price quickly eclipsed. The PRICETAGS: £86m Bale, £80m Ronaldo, £56m Kaka and £45m Zidane United chief added: “I think in a couple of years you will realise he was cheap. A few years ago £25m was a phenomenal player. Today, £25m is not even a player. It is a prospect of a player.
“I think next summer can bring a few surprises at this level and probably Paul will lose this status as the world’s most expensive player. Which will probably be a good thing.”
Mourinho is delighted with Pogba’s contribution to a team gunning on four fronts with a trip to Blackburn today. And he shakes his head at what would have been a goal glut if Pogba had not smacked the woodwork EIGHT times.
He added: “Yes, imagine the eight posts and it would be an amazing record. So you know, step by step he’s still very young and he can be fantastic.
“I’m really happy with what he did at Leicester and Watford where people do not see him much in danger areas.
“But he gave us balance. Starting the build-up from the back which was really impressive. And at the top of the pitch he is the guy who can score goals.
“So yeah, I can see the influence he has on this team.”