Pogba ‘doesn’t deserve special status’ at United – Carragher

Ian Watson

Jamie Carragher has backed Jose Mourinho’s refusal to indulge Paul Pogba by building his Manchester United team around the record signing.

Pogba was left out of the Champions League trip to Sevilla in midweek on the back of phoning in sick on the morning of United’s FA Cup trip to Huddersfield last weekend.

Those absences came after being substituted at Newcastle and Tottenham following ineffective performances, with Mourinho being criticised for failing to help the midfielder flourish.

But former Liverpool and England defender Carragher believes Pogba has not shown enough in a season and a half at Old Trafford to deserve ‘special status’.

Carragher wrote in his Telegraph column: “Every so often players come along who are brilliant but flawed. Such is their ability to decide games, their weaknesses have to be accepted and teams built around them,” he wrote in The Telegraph.

“Does Paul Pogba come into this category at Manchester United? No. He has not done enough to warrant such special status. I can imagine Mourinho trying to get into Pogba’s head about what is required.

“Here we are, 18 months on, and nothing has changed. In recent away games against Spurs and Arsenal Pogba made the same mistakes.

“This time it is more serious because it shows he is either unwilling or incapable of absorbing information from his manager.”