MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Jose Mourinho has refuted the suggestion that he has any personal problems with midfielder Paul Pogba, putting the current speculation over the pair’s relationship down to “lies in journalism”.
The Frenchman has been criticised for failing to live up to his potential since making a £90 million move to Old Trafford from Juventus in the summer of 2016.
Despite putting the 25-year-old midfielder, who says he is “judged” differently to others, on the bench at times, Mourinho has insisted that there is nothing to the talk.
“If that happened 10 or 15 years back, it would bother me a lot, because in that time it wouldn’t have lies in journalism,” he told ESPN.
“Actually, I don’t even know who’s a journalist and who isn’t anymore, because nowadays anyone can be a journalist. In fact, me and Paul have never had a personal issue.
“If you tell me that we would have problems because me, as a coach, create different things than someone else and vice versa, ok. But personal issues, absolutely not.
“And I feel happy to say that Paul can be a lot of things, but there’s a thing I can assure you: he’s very polite.”