Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer addressed the media on Friday ahead of his side’s clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The Red Devils have it all to do given their poor start to the Premier League campaign which has left them down in 12th place in the standings after eight games, while their rivals have rattled off eight consecutive victories to move clear at the top of the table.
In turn, it will take a top performance for them to take something from the game it seems, but Solskjaer was forced to address other topics during his press conference.
As seen in the tweet below, United superstar Paul Pogba was pictured alongside Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane this week, in what has been claimed was a coincidental meeting in Dubai as the French international continues his recover from injury.
Pogba won’t recover in time to face Liverpool, but it seems as though Solskjaer isn’t too concerned about the picture and hasn’t taken anything from it to suggest that he, Man Utd or the fans should be worried that there was something more to the pair being seen together.
“I’ve not heard Paul Pogba say he doesn’t want to be here. Paul is part of our plan going forward,” he told the media, as quoted by Sky Sports.
“He has been playing through the pain-barrier. He has been criticised left, right and centre, but when he came back against Rochdale and Arsenal he could’ve easily not played.
“He wanted to play, he wanted to try to get back and it was too painful. He’s had a scan, he’s on the way back and he’s been on a few days off, working but he is away from here.
“And then there is a picture and being at Manchester United you do get pictures and speculation – but I don’t have any problem with that at all.”
Time will tell when Pogba returns to full fitness and if he can start to play a pivotal role for Man Utd again, as based on their form in recent weeks without him, they’re desperate for him to add some quality and class to help Solskjaer’s side get on track this season.
As for the photo below, it may well have been an innocent and chance meeting, but it will undoubtedly spark further speculation over Pogba’s future given the links with Real Madrid over the summer.
Photo: Pogba and Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane at the Transform Altitude Performance Center in Dubai. The source states their encounter was a coincidence #mulive [mirror] pic.twitter.com/055oxMMKaP
— utdreport (@utdreport) October 17, 2019