Bailly back in training after pre-season Spurs injury
UNITED have been handed a timely injury boost as Eric Bailly returned to first-team training yesterday morning.
The Ivorian was pictured in action at the club’s Carrington training complex as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side prepare to face Arsenal in the Premier League on New Year’s Day.
Bailly has not featured for United in competitive action this season and has been left sidelined ever since suffering a serious knee injury against Tottenham in pre-season.
However, it seems the 25-year-old could be set for a return to action soon as United prepare for a packed fixture schedule which will see them play seven fixtures across all competitions next month.
Speaking earlier in the month Solskjaer hinted both Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah could feature for the club shortly in the New Year.
“We’re getting players back, we’re getting Paul [Pogba], Diogo [Dalot], Eric [Bailly], Tim [Fosu-Mensah] back, so that’s four extra bodies back for us in the coming months,” Solskjaer said.
“Eric, Tim and Paul probably need a little more time.”
However, it isn’t all good news for United as Axel Tuanzebe, Ashley Young, Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba were not spotted in the 15 minutes of the training session filmed by cameras.
Pogba featured for United twice in December from the bench but completely missed the trip to face Burnley at the weekend along with Tuanzebe and McTominay.
Young played the full 90 minutes at Turf Moor at the weekend as Aaron Wan-Bissaka was given a rare break amid the packed fixture schedule.
PAUL Pogba is maybe the only footballer whose return from injury cannot keep the packs at bay. However logical his exclusion from the travelling squad to Burnley was, it was illogical for the baying mob on Twitter.
There is no common ground with the polarising Pogba.
Plenty of United matchgoers would be happy to be shot of him and then there are the Pogbaholics on social media who support the player rather than the club. Innocuous sentences such as ‘Paul Pogba was absent during training’ wear out the lettering on keyboards. The irony is they follow Pogba on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for
SEVERAL United youngsters took part in first-team training yesterday as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continued his preparations for the game against Arsenal on New Year’s Day.
Angel Gomes, Ethan Laird, D’Mani Mellor, Ethan Galbraith and Largie Ramazani were all photographed during a morning session at United’s Carrington training complex. updates. They need their Pog-fix. Yet enlightenment is often deemed incendiary and humour is banned.
Pogba did not take his RollsRoyce for a spin around Burnley this year. The mere reference to Jose Mourinho’s sermon about ‘His Excellency’s’ departure from Turf Moor last season quickly caused outrage. An ill-informed tweeter resorted to an admittedly amusing play on this correspondent’s name. It was nearly as funny as their claim Memphis Depay was the passenger in the Rolls when he had left three months before he could have ever played there.
United will regard the Pogbaholics among their one trillion followers, or whatever the ludicrous Dr. Evil figure sum stands at. Pogba has
Gomes began the season in a similar bracket to the likes of Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams but has barely featured for the first team this season and there are doubts over his long-term future at the club.
The 19-year-old’s contract at United is due to expire at the end of the season and he will be free to negotiate a free transfer to an overseas club from next month 38.5 million Instagram followers compared with United’s 33 million. Real Madrid lost one million followers within 24 hours of Cristiano Ronaldo’s £88m move to Juventus last year.
Nobody should begrudge Pogba angling for the Bernabeu. He has long harboured plans to move to Spain, the coach is his idol, his wife is a Spanishspeaker and United are worse than when Pogba rejoined them in 2016.
However avaricious Mino Raiola appears, he does prioritise his clients’ playing development. Agreeing a new contract with United might be a hollow commitment.
Pogba’s return at Watford this month was muted, United’s awaydayers still numb from the sudden second-half collapse. In 30 talismanic minutes, Pogba produced the sole standout performance from a United player and his half-time introduction at Old Trafford on Boxing Day was greeted jubilantly.
United have not missed Pogba as majorly as they did in 2017, when onwards. Laird, Mellor, Ramazani and Galbraith made their senior debuts during the defeat by Astana in Kazakhstan at the end of November.
Eric Bailly and Timothy FosuMensah also trained as they continued their rehabilitation from serious knee injuries. Neither player has played this season.
Paul Pogba was not spotted during the session after missing the win over Burnley on Saturday. he was the difference between them challenging for the championship and fading into also-rans. That is as much a reflection of the United hierarchy’s complacency as it is Pogba’s mercurial talents. “Paul wants to be successful and happy and wants to win prizes and he would love to do that with Manchester United,” Raiola told The Telegraph two weeks ago. Raiola is not referring to the League Cup or the Europa League. Pogba pulled silver medals off his neck as though they were pythons in Champions League and European Championship finals. Another three-handled trophy and Uefa Cup double should be anathema to him. Back in 2016-17, it was a springboard. A repeat in the coming months would bring him full circle at United.
Champions League football and a cup(s) would nevertheless bring about a satisfactory conclusion to Pogba’s Manchester reunion. He has 18 months left on his contract
He reported to Carrington yesterday morning but was not pictured in the training session the day before United’s players are due to travel to London ahead of their meeting with Arsenal.
Scott McTominay, Axel Tuanzebe and Ashley Young were also absent but it is worth noting TV cameras and photographers were only permitted to capture the first 15 minutes of United’s session.