Paul Pogba will play his first game since rejoining Manchester United on Friday with José Mourinho acclaiming the midfielder as “maybe the best in the world” and lamenting the process that he believes might prevent the club’s record signing from ever winning the Ballon d’Or.
Mourinho, acknowledging it was a mistake for United to let Pogba leave the club four years ago, said the player was not fit enough to last the entire match against Southampton or put in a “super performance” as the Premier League moves into the world of Friday night football. However, the new United manager, asked what impact he expects Pogba to have, made it clear he believes the Frenchman will quickly justify his status as the most expensive player in the world.
“I see him very calm,” Mourinho said. “I see him very comfortable in this role of a star player and feeling very well under that skin. I don’t see him under pressure, I don’t see him in training trying to do things to show that he’s different, to show that he’s better.
“I think his impact will be something very natural, something that maybe for your eyes will not be an ‘impact’ but in my eyes will be a progressive impact of contribution. I’m not expecting, the first time he touches the ball, to see him dribble past five guys and score a wonder goal. I expect the first time he touches the ball to see him make a correct pass, a good selection of passes, a good choice, a good simple execution and [make] the game fluid because he’s a super football player.”
Mourinho is not convinced, however, that Pogba will ever be recognised in the same way as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and said the 23-year-old would find it considerably harder to win the Ballon d’Or. “When you speak about the best players in the world, you go immediately to the ones that score a lot of goals,” he said. “You don’t give a gold ball to a goalkeeper. You gave it to [Fabio] Cannavaro once because in that season he was the captain of Italy, the world champions. [Paolo] Maldini never got a gold ball, [Javier] Zanetti never got a gold ball.
“The top goalkeepers over history didn’t get a gold ball, so you look immediately to the ones that score a lot of goals. Can Paul score the same number of goals as Ronaldo and Messi? Not even 25%, I believe. I believe in a season he can’t score 20 goals. But he’s one of the best midfield players – maybe the best in the world.”
Having won 3-1 at Bournemouth last weekend, Mourinho goes into his first home match as United’s new manager calling for a better connection between the team and the supporters to increase the volume at Old Trafford. “Everything starts there,” he said. “If, at Old Trafford, a couple of thousand away supporters can be more noisy than 70,000, then we are in trouble and it means there is no connection between team and supporters.
“If there is a connection, that factor – being strong at home – has to be back. But I think everything starts with that relationship – the way the team plays, the way it behaves, the mode of play, the mental approach. If the fans feel that connection, they also want to play and if the fans play, there is no chance for the opponent.”
The game has been preceded by Southampton’s manager, Claude Puel, questioning whether United might have been responsible for speculation linking José Fonte with a move to Old Trafford. But Mourinho made it clear in his inimitable style that he was not concerned about the bad feeling. “I don’t care,” he said.
There was a similar response when it came to Paul Parker’s allegations that Wayne Rooney looked overweight and was in the team for commercial reasons. “I am not paid to comment on the comments of people who are paid to comment,” Mourinho said. “That’s his problem.”
As well as Pogba, Mourinho has Chris Smalling back from suspension and more choices in midfield now that Jesse Lingard has recovered from the foot injury that kept him out of the Bournemouth game.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, another of the club’s summer recruits, was only on the bench at Bournemouth and also in the Community Shield against Leicester City and Mourinho was asked why the £28m signing from Borussia Dortmund had yet to start. “Options,” he explained. “Against Leicester I was reading the game and I thought we needed the speed of Lingard. Against Bournemouth, I thought they wanted to press really high and a player like Mata coming inside could reach some spaces behind the lines of pressure and it could be very useful for us. I decided to play (Wayne) Rooney both games in that position close to Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) and I didn’t start with Mikhy.
“Some managers, when it is their decision to buy players, the first thing they think is to protect themselves and protect their choices. The players they buy have to play all the time. I am not like this. Before me, comes the team, and what I think is the best for the team.”
“In those two matches, Mata and Lingard were the best options for the team, already adapted to the reality of the Premier League, so I made that decision. But Mkhitaryan is a super football player and he will be given a lot of opportunities this season.”