Sick as a Pog
UNITED ILL AT EASE
PAUL POGBA has chosen to suffer in silence at Manchester United and leave others to do all the talking for him.
Jose Mourinho has had plenty to say on the issue of his troubled midfielder, insisting claims Pogba and him don’t get on and that the player wants to leave are ‘bull **** ’.
This might be true and then again it might not. Who knows? The truth can be hard to find in the corridors of power at Old Trafford. ‘Bull **** ’ and England’s biggest club sometimes go hand in hand.
The phrase ‘needle in a haystack’ springs to mind, but one thing is for sure – Mourinho’s patience with all things Pogba-related has been tested.
Trouble
A fire has started raging and those caught right in the middle of it – Mourinho, Pogba and United – are doing nothing more productive than throwing petrol on to the flames.
At the same time he was claiming all is well in the world of Pogba, Mourinho made it clear the Frenchman would be in his starting XI to face Huddersfield in the FA Cup at the John Smith’s Stadium this weekend.
Then just a few hours before kick-off, United broke with tradition and took the trouble to post a story on their own website insisting Pogba was ill and would not travel.
United never do this. United don’t even have unveilings for superstars costing almost £100m, let alone bother going public with news that one of their players has caught a cold.
It was an embarrassing and ham-fisted attempt to quell the expected storm of questions about Pogba after the game in Yorkshire. It was also naive, because all it actually did was give rival boss David Wagner an advantage ahead of kick-off and make critics even more suspicious about what is going on with United’s most high-profile star.
It wouldn’t have happened under Sir Alex Ferguson’s watch. Fergie was once so furious a journalist had revealed Rio Ferdinand would miss United’s opening game of the 2012-13 season at Everton that he banned him from the club for three months, despite the story being true.
It has been a disaster in terms of a public relations exercise for United.
This could all be avoided if Pogba took the simple, and obvious, step of releasing a statement letting the world know there isn’t a problem and that he is happy and focused at United.
Mourinho has shown his hand, though, dropping Pogba for the home win over Huddersfield and hooking him in games against Tottenham and Newcastle.
Call it a coincidence but since the arrival of Alexis Sanchez, Pogba has not completed a full 90 minutes.
Before Sanchez joined United, Pogba was the headline act.
Pogba could be looking at Sanchez in training and wondering what all the fuss is about. What does the Chilean bring to the table that justifies wages of £500,000 a week?
Those who think footballers aren’t jealous of what others have just because they have a lot themselves are living in cloud-cuckoo land.
Mino Raiola was given intimate details of Sanchez’s transfer to United from Arsenal, due to the fact he was representing Henrikh Mkhitaryan travelling in the opposite direction. Raiola is also Pogba’s agent.
The prospect of Pogba being sold this summer remains absurd – but this is football we are talking about.