Paul Pogba is named among four Manchester United players who will be allowed to leave the club in the summer in the Daily Mail.
Replacing the Frenchman would be costly business, however, and Mourinho has to start looking to improve the players he already has a club and Pogba needs to be his biggest project.
What’s the story, then?
The report states that Pogba, his international team-mate Anthony Martial, as well as Daley Blind and Matteo Darmian, will be allowed to leave Old Trafford in the summer.
It goes on to say that Mourinho’s relationship with the £81m-rated playmaker has deteriorated rapidly this season and that he has run out of patience with the Frenchman now.
The weekend’s FA Cup semi-final clash versus Tottenham could well provide another flashpoint for the pair as it was the league meeting against Mauricio Pochettino’s men at Wembley in January that looked to start the feud between them.
Mourinho has to keep Pogba and work with him
The retirement of Michael Carrick at the end of this season will create a gap in the United engine room and Marouane Fellaini is still refusing to sign a contract extension to create further turmoil in that area.
Mourinho cannot keep buying his way out of trouble; at some point he has to invest time on the coaching field to improving the performances of his current crop of players. He cannot buy a new team every summer.
Pogba is an immensely talented midfielder with plenty of attributes that can be accentuated but with plenty to learn. Working in tandem, Pogba would improve under Mourinho and the Portuguese would suddenly have a heartbeat for his midfield.
Selling Pogba would also leave Mourinho with a new conundrum – who does he replace him with? He would then be on the search for maybe three new midfielders this summer. That quality just isn’t out there and United can’t spend fortunes on central midfield when there is a defence that needs sorting out behind them.
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