Rumours of a rift between Manchester United’s record signing Paul Pogba and boss Jose Mourinho are wide of the mark, says the France star.
Paul Pogba maintains there are no problems between himself and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
Record signing Pogba was dropped to the bench by Mourinho earlier this year and has struggled to consistently find his best form.
However, a game-changing brace in United’s 3-2 derby win over Premier League champions Manchester City earlier this month showed the 25-year-old at his very best and he turned in another impressive display in last weekend’s 2-1 FA Cup semi-final victory against Tottenham at Wembley.
‘It’s good, very good. He’s the coach, I’m the player. He does the coaching, I do the playing,’ the France midfielder told Sky Sports when asked about Mourinho ahead of Arsenal’s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday.
‘I’m here and very happy. I give my best for the team, for myself I’m happy because we are in a final [the FA Cup] and I want to finish the season very well.’
‘It [being on the bench] is something that didn’t happen in the past, it’s not something I’m used to, but everyone has to go through this. It makes you stronger and makes you realise you have to work hard, because anything can happen. It’s affected me in a good way.’
‘When you go through it, you just have to work and keep believing in yourself and respond on the pitch.’
Despite those derby-day heroics, Pogba only has five Premier League goals to his name this season.
He is looking to improve on that front and has received some pointers from Michael Carrick, who wants the ex-Juventus favourite to emulate his old West Ham and England colleague Frank Lampard.
‘He told me about how running without the ball can make the difference in the game,’ Pogba explained. ‘I call them ‘the Lampard runs’ – making the run, getting into the box, and that helps a lot.’
‘Michael has the experience, he always talks to me since I arrived last year and helps me with the position and all that. It just came naturally in training. If he sees something I could do better he comes and tells me.’
‘Sometimes I go to him and say, ‘Do you see something I could do better?’ and he helps me and helps me to improve.’
‘When you are inside and outside [the pitch] you don’t see it the same, I just ask him and he helped me a lot.’