Pog’s pride in leading out team-mates as captain

PAUL Pogba says it was a ‘big honour’ to captain United in their Champions League ties against Basel.

The 24-year-old skippered United in their 3-0 win over the Swiss side in September and in Basel for the 1-0 defeat last month.

Pogba donned the armband a number of times during pre-season and could be a contender to replace Michael Carrick as club captain, should the 36-year-old midfielder finish his playing career at the end of the campaign.

Many United fans have endorsed Pogba as the next club captain and the France international has spoken about the pride he felt at being chosen to lead out his team-mates.

“It’s a big honour for me, to be honest, to wear this armband at Manchester United it’s a thing that you can only dream of, just to wear it makes me very proud and makes me give even more again to the club, give my best all the time.”

Antonio Valencia has mainly led United in Carrick’s absence this season but Mourinho admitted in the summer he was not a fan of the ruling that the longest-serving player was captain.

“I don’t like a lot the criteria of the captain,” Mourinho said during pre-season. “To be the player with more time in the club because sometimes you have somebody with the armband that doesn’t have the qualities to be the captain and is just the captain because he arrived before other players.”