DISUNITED OVER POGBA
Is a battle of the super agents at the heart of problems for Jose and his £89m midfielder?
SUPER is often the appropriate prefix for Paul Pogba. A superstar at a superclub in a supercar. The same goes for his representative, Mino Raiola, one of that cluster of super-agents whose wealth is astronomical and power even greater.
And herein lies a healthy portion of Pogba’s problem. Jose Mourinho is known to have held reservations about Raiola’s management of the central midfielder earlier this season and that sense of unease has only heightened in recent weeks amid Alexis Sanchez’s arrival and a worrying dip in form.
Mourinho has been agitated by Raiola’s visits to the club’s training ground over the past few months. Nice and familiar when United are flying, an annoyance when they are not.
Senior players have noticed too, disturbed by Pogba’s demeanour at Carrington and left wondering if he is worth the fuss. It needs a wise head to sit him down. These are testing times, regardless of whether the most expensive midfielder in the world performs against Chelsea today.
That everything surrounding the player is so grandiose grates on a manager who, even allowing for ever more frequent public disputes, usually places the common goal of his squad ahead of anything else. That club staff had to be deployed to fetch Pogba from his bed in Hale Barns after failing to report for training on time before Christmas did not go down well. Was this the attitude of a man who truly wanted to maximise his potential? What, you wonder, has Raiola been telling him before and since?
The friction which has bubbled under for some weeks became public just days after Sanchez came from Arsenal with a monstrous pay packet dwarfing the Frenchman’s. Mourinho substituted Pogba with 27 minutes to go at Tottenham.
The game had already gone, United two down and aimless going forward, and it is widely accepted that Pogba did not do enough defensively at Wembley. Mourinho has twice overlooked him since, preferring 21-year-old Scott McTominay.
Pogba was on the bench at Sevilla — arguably United’s biggest game so far this season — until Ander Herrera’s 17th-minute injury. To watch him warmup among the substitutes in southern Spain was to view an unhappy man, lacking focus, constantly misplacing simple passes to Matteo Darmian in the drills. That he fitted in nicely as United escaped with a draw was a surprise.
Raiola has watched all this with interest. That Real Madrid have been sounded out over the level of their interest is frankly astonishing for a player costing £89million who is only 18 months into a five-year contract. Yet, with all these situations, there is an undercurrent and Jorge Mendes, another agent with the super prefix, has considered the possibility of adding Pogba to his stable of clients which include Mourinho and United’s goalkeeper, David De Gea.
Whether that is attainable is another matter given Pogba’s loyalty to Raiola, who has moved Henrikh Mkhitaryan in and out of Old Trafford while Mourinho has been in situ.
Ajax revealed last week that Mendes had contacted them about Patrick Kluivert’s son, Justin. His agent? Mino Raiola. The games may well be afoot between the two rivals.
The strongest relationship Raiola holds at United is with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, who was interested in signing Pogba from Juventus two years before his 2016 arrival. Lines of communication were open.
They also remain open between Mourinho and Pogba now but the bond is strained, certainly at its worst since he re-joined the club. The heated discussions in private are evidence of that. So too the constant debate over his best position — which the manager has engaged with — and the inferences about his lifestyle.
Nemanja Matic, in favour with Mourinho, spelled out his manager’s modus operandi. ‘In every team he wants to have a good midfield,’ said Matic, speaking generally. ‘Jose likes players who can control the game and give balance to the team. I’m trying to give my best. If this is enough I don’t know, but I’m happy because I’m playing almost every game. ‘We’ve got a good relationship and even before that at Chelsea. There’s nothing to hide. I try my best and he respects that.’ Matic’s workload will be heavy this afternoon. Herrera marked Eden Hazard out of this fixture last April but a hamstring injury rules him out today.
Scrutiny will also be on Pogba, who is set for a recall, given the defensive responsibility required should they play a midfield three. ‘Eden is a player who is very difficult to neutralise,’ said Mourinho. ‘Of course he is a very important player for them, but Willian is also an important player for them.
‘Ander’s job on Eden was important. He did an amazing job, but these are different matches, conditions, circumstances, different players.’
The circumstances seemed to have changed for Pogba, too, even if the situation remains salvageable.