“No one is bigger than the club”. We’ve heard it all before, and we’ve seen the consequences befall those who have attempted to vie against the old adage. But is this latest episode spiralling the two biggest egos at Manchester United out of control?
As the players jogged out for another session at the Carrington training ground, Paul Pogba, who had been giving everyone high-fives on his majestic way in, breezed past Jose Mourinho and was suddenly taken aback by something his manager said to him.
What those words were exactly, was near impossible to hear or understand, but Pogba’s reaction said a thousand words instead. Let’s just say, “I like your new hairstyle” was not on the list of possibilities.
There followed a fascinating scowl from the player, who has recently returned to the club for a then world-record fee, and an almost nonchalant and classic Latin response from Mourinho, whereby the manager simply ‘walked on’, hands in pockets as if defying Pogba’s stance.
The friction currently felt at Old Trafford is there for all to see, and just how long this battle will continue is anyone’s guess, however, most are predicting that it will not be long before one or the other is shown the door.
This most recent altercation is just one in a large number that has been happening almost from the moment Pogba stepped back through the Manchester United doors, and although many anticipated that his rise with the French national team at the 2018 World Cup, would amount to great and magnificent things at club level, these have yet to materialise.
While Mourinho and Pogba continue their ardours sparring, it is probably not easy to see that it is Manchester United that are the ones suffering the most now.
Dumped out of the League Cup by Championship side Derby on Wednesday and lying seventh in the Premier League table, eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool is not exactly the stuff expected from those plying their trade at the Theatre of Dreams.
With the January transfer window looming, Mourinho will be hoping that this time he is backed by the Manchester United board to bring in the right players to strengthen his side, and Pogba will probably be hoping for someone to step in and whisk him out.
As things stand, neither player nor manager is endearing himself to the Old Trafford faithful, and the general feeling is that the bickering must stop if the once, mighty Reds are to climb back to their glorious heights of old.
If the warm-felt return of Alex Ferguson at the weekend was a chance to bring a little parity to the chaos ensuing in the current team’s dugout, then this change was brushed aside by two of the new goliaths of world football, seemingly not caring about a team still trying to find its feet after the departure of their dearest son.
With all said and done, and with everything now lying out bear on the training ground pitch, it almost seems now, both Mourinho and Pogba believe they really are bigger than this club.
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