Nearly five years – 1795 days to be precise – after making his Manchester United debut in a 3-0 Capital One Cup win over Leeds United, Paul Pogba is ready to return to action with the Red Devils.
Pogba, who played seven times as a substitute during his first spell at Old Trafford, could make his second debut on Friday night when United host Southampton.
The former Juventus midfielder was not involved last weekend as Jose Mourinho’s men kicked off the new season with a 3-1 win at Bournemouth.
However, Mourinho has now said that the 23-year-old is ready for some minutes against the Saints, despite concerns over his fitness due.
Mourinho was quoted by Eurosport as saying: “We played against Leicester with players with less training than him and we saw that match as a way to improve them and accelerate the process.
“With Paul it’s a bit the same – not one single minute of any pre-season match but almost two weeks of work with us, sometimes with the group, sometimes separately, and the condition is okay to play some minutes.”
Pogba was on the winning side in five of his seven United cameos first time around.
He was involved in Red Devils victories over Leeds, Aldershot, Stoke, West Brom and Wolves, but he suffered defeats against Crystal Palace and Atletico Madrid.
Pogba certainly experienced more than his fair share of winning during his four seasons in Italy, as he helped Juve to back-to-back-to-back-to-back Serie A titles.
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