Solskjaer promises to pacify Pogba with new challenge
Norwegian insists star man can deliver again Lingard is disciplined over lewd holiday video
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has told Paul Pogba that he does not need to leave Manchester United to fulfil his ambitions, after the midfielder’s public admission last month that he wanted to quit Old Trafford and seek a “new challenge” elsewhere, preferably at Real Madrid.
United have yet to receive an offer for Pogba from Real or Juventus, although it is thought the Manchester club could be open to selling the France midfielder if their £160million valuation is met. That figure is so far proving beyond his suitors.
Pogba, whose hopes of a move to Barcelona last summer were rebuffed by United, is keen to play in Spain and is thought to harbour concerns about his club’s ability to challenge for the top honours after they finished sixth in the Premier League last season, 32 points adrift of champions Manchester City.
Yet Solskjaer says Pogba can still find everything he is looking for at United, insisting he bears no resentment towards his star player’s stance, despite the Frenchman reassuring him months ago he was committed to the club.
“I’ve not been upset by anything he’s said, because we’ve had many conversations and I know exactly what Paul is thinking,” Solskjaer said, in a wide-ranging interview in Perth on the first leg of the club’s pre-season tour. “I can give him a new challenge.
“I’ve said many times about Paul that he’s a top, top boy and a great player and he’s never, ever been a problem. If we get him playing like he did when I came in again, he will win you over.” Asked if there were any circumstances in which Pogba might leave, Solskjaer said: “I’ve got to be careful. I can’t dive into all this – hypothetical questions and all that.
“But we’ve not had offers. I can say the same about whichever player. If we don’t get an offer for a player we would have to pay them out for them not to be here, don’t we, so we haven’t had offers.”
There are also doubts over the futures of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez. Lukaku wants to join Inter Milan, who are reported to be preparing a bid worth at least £60million for the Belgium striker, for whom United will demand as much as £90million.
“If we sell players we will have to replace them,” Solskjaer said when asked if he would want to replace Lukaku should he go.
Sanchez is not on tour, after being granted three weeks off following his involvement in the Copa America with Chile, but United are open to offers for the 30-year-old, who has scored just five goals in 45 appearances during a calamitous 18 months at the club.
Asked if he was planning on Sanchez being at United for the start of the season in less than four weeks’ time, Solskjaer said: “At the moment, yes I am,” before carefully considering his answer when asked if he could get the player back to his best.
“I will have to help,” he said. “But you can’t spoon-feed them. They’ve got to come in and grab their chances. Alexis is quality and he showed it in Copa America. Then he got his injury. I don’t think it’s too bad so I’m hoping he will be available for maybe Kristiansund [on July 30] or AC Milan [four days later] so he will at least get some football before the season starts.”
On the subject of not having to “spoon feed” players, Solskjaer said Jesse Lingard had been disciplined over a lewd Snapchat video the United and England forward filmed from inside a luxury suite while on holiday in Miami. “That has been dealt with internally,” said Solskjaer, whose side face Leeds United in their second tour match at the Optus Stadium today. “I am quite big on self-discipline and I can’t spoon-feed all these players. They have got to do it themselves.”
Solskjaer would like a leader in the Bryan Robson or Roy Keane mould in his dressing room but does not believe there are many of their kind left. He wondered what sort of impact the departure of Vincent Kompany would have at Manchester City. “There are less Robbos and Keanos around,” he said. “I think any manager in the world would say, ‘I would love to have one who is that type of leader’. Look at City, Kompany. Who knows what will happen? He was a fantastic human being, player and leader, so someone else has to step up. And someone else has to step up for us.”
United are being worked harder in Australia under Solskjaer’s watch than in previous pre-seasons as he bids to improve fitness levels.
Solskjaer is optimistic about the season ahead, as he is in the prospect of goalkeeper David de Gea soon signing a new long-term contract, even if he is not promising an overnight transformation and prepared to improvise where necessary. Scott Mctominay and Andreas Pereira, for example, are likely to be asked to fill the hole left by Ander Herrera’s departure for Paris St-germain.
Youngsters Daniel James and Aaron Wan-bissaka are the only signings to date and what was expected to be a ruthless cull of underperforming players has yet to materialise, while the wait to appoint a technical director continues. Asked if something needed to change in terms of recruitment, given the problems down the years, Solskjaer said: “That’s your opinion. It’s never a problem – a challenge. I wanted Aaron and Dan James. Aaron was, for me, the top target. We can’t expect Dan to be David Beckham or Ryan Giggs straight away, but he will be a top player. He’s not a £70 million player, no, but he’ll be worth it.”
‘If we get him playing like he did when I came in again, he will win you over’