Jose Mourinho calls out Pogba “lies”

You know those “Pogba unhappy with Mourinho” stories? Those “Real Madrid preparing a bid” stories? Those “Manchester United are falling apart behind the scenes” stories? Yeah, Jose Mourinho read them too. And he is not happy.

Here he is, at his press conference today, after being asked about the “speculation”:

I think you are nice with your words because when you say a lot of speculation you should say a lot of lies because I accept and can speak on Paul’s behalf without any kind of problem.

Fair enou— wait, he’s not done.

Paul accepts he has not been playing well but that’s all and if you want to speak about it that’s one thing and speculation your words makes a little bit of sense but the majority of things you can read and listen, don’t be polite, be objective and say lies.

Pretty firm stu— oh, there’s more.

I don’t have to speak with you about my conversations with my players. It is my problem, the player’s problem. It is a big lie that our relationship is not good, that we don’t communicate, that we don’t agree with his positions and his involvement in the dynamic of the team so be objective and say what we all know.

So that’s that sor— hang on.

In the last couple of matches he didn’t play well, period, end of story. Now it’s my problem and Paul’s to improve his performance level, you don’t need to be a liar.

Crikey.

Those of you that watch the media closely will have noticed that the initial story came from Duncan Castles, who has something of a reputation for his closeness to, and his staunch-to-the-point-of-weirdness defences of ... Mourinho. Be interesting to see if those continue after this. In the meantime, it looks like Pogba’s going to play against Huddersfield. Mourinho may not be happy with his performances, but he’s not resorting to his usual path — exile in disgrace — just yet.

By happy coincidence, we’ve a piece up here looking at what needs to be done to set Pogba free.