Man United still have bridges to build before Pogba mess is cleaned up

Now Jose Mourinho has gone, Paul Pogba must hope his problems at Manchester United don’t follow him to Cardiff on Saturday.

Mourinho’s poor relationship with United’s record signing was a defining feature of his time at Old Trafford. His departure leaves somebody else to clear up a significant mess.

Pogba is unlikely to be received well by the travelling United support this weekend if his new temporary manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer chooses to select him. The drip, drip, drip of negativity from Mourinho and several TV pundits has done its work.

Strangely, a 24-year-old World Cup winner and Champions League finalist is often now viewed as the embodiment of everything that is thought to be wrong at the club.

Last week, for example, Pogba posted a video online of a scene from the United dressing room at Carrington. It showed the French midfielder’s own birthday tribute to his friend, team-mate Jesse Lingard. A minute or so long, it was utterly harmless.

Nevertheless some sections of the United rank and file reacted as though he had wiped his dirty shoes on the plinth holding the statue of Charlton, Best and Law outside the stadium.

This, now, is Pogba’s world, a world where much of what he does is no longer taken at face value. For everything, it seems, there has to be a reason when actually there is often not one at all.

Solskjaer, formerly reserve team coach at United, has worked with Pogba before and likes him so that will be a start. Speaking hypothetically in August, Solskjaer said he would ‘build a team around Paul’, words that will either help to smooth Pogba’s way back to the first team or come back to haunt the man who spoke them.

Either way, rebuilding the form and confidence of one of his prime assets represents a priority for the new coach. Pogba’s Instagram post welcoming Mourinho’s exit on Tuesday morning was not an accident, but we should not be fooled into thinking he has no beef with the club also.

It is understood Pogba feels let down by executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, for example. As Pogba repeatedly heard his worth called into question by Mourinho over a period of months and suspected his coach of stage-managing other moments of controversy, Pogba began to wonder why Woodward was not doing anything to stop it. As of Thursday, that remains a live issue.

‘Paul has ceased to care a little and that’s dangerous,’ said a well-placed source last night. ‘United have quite a few bridges to build before the situation gets to be anywhere near comfortable again.’

Pogba does not employ a public relations expert. Many team-mates do but Pogba felt it unnecessary, so much of what you see is what you get. Currently living in the quiet Cheshire retreat of Hale Barns with his girlfriend, in a house he bought from former United striker Javier Hernandez for upwards of £2m, he has spent a substantial amount more amending it to his tastes.

Pogba can be extravagant. He has a Rolls-Royce. He has a personalised pool table. But he doesn’t drink and does most of his socialising at home, where his mother, aunt and members of his support staff are often known to stay over.

He is known to be bemused by the manner and speed with which Mourinho took against him. Only once did the sacked United manager lose his temper with him in private, ranting to Pogba and agent Mino Raiola after the player returned injured from international duty.

‘You have let me down and I don’t think you care,’ was Mourinho’s high volume accusation.

On two occasions, there were attempts at reconciliation. It is not known at whose behest, but Pogba and Mourinho twice met for coffee to discuss ways to move forward, most recently last April. But at the heart of the difference was something fundamental. Pogba wanted to play in an advanced central midfield role and Mourinho didn’t agree. This is where the discord really should have begun and ended.

Solskjaer will know the type of character he is dealing with. Pogba is intelligent and confident and is unlikely to be bullied.

If the Norwegian is to find a way to make him re-engage then it will have to be done subtly. Beyond that, the interim coach must also bring Alexis Sanchez back into the fold. The Chilean is currently in his home country having treatment on a hamstring injury and some United players believe he has no intention of returning until he is sold.

Equally, Anthony Martial has not committed to a new long-term deal with one dressing-room theory being that he has asked for a package he knows to be too high to force the club to offload him.

The exact truth of that one will probably be known further down the line, as indeed will the full extent of the damage wrought by Mourinho’s reign on morale and motivation.

For Pogba’s part, he may need to score a goal or two to win over the Stretford End. But re-establishing Pogba’s faith in his club might take a little longer.