The tension between Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba is well known to the world and at one point Mourinho had to leave Manchester United and certainly, it delighted Pogba a lot.

The world record marquee signing of Pogba by Mourinho following his 2016 appointment at Old Trafford – was instrumental as the Portuguese guided United to League Cup and Europa League glory in 2017 in his first season in charge.

Gradually, the relationship between Mourinho and some of the players in Manchester United, especially, Pogba, strained after a trophy-less second season and a poor start to the 2018/19 campaign, typified by a training ground spat with Pogba after the player was stripped of the Manchester United vice-captaincy in September 2018.

Mourinho was relieved of his duties three months later.

This tweet was posted on Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba's account before being deleted soon after. Image Courtesy: BBC
This tweet was posted on Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba’s account before being deleted soon after. Image Courtesy: BBC

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over.

“What I have now with Ole is different, he wouldn’t go against the players,” Pogba exclusively told Sky Sports in an interview.

“He wouldn’t go against the players.”

“Maybe Ole wouldn’t pick them, but it’s not like he puts them on the side like they don’t exist anymore. That’s the difference between Mourinho and Ole.”

“Once I had a great relationship with Mourinho, everybody saw that, and the next day you don’t know what happened. That’s the strange thing I had with Mourinho and I cannot explain to you because even I don’t know. So, yeah.”

Sky Sports reported, “Pogba has not been the only player to not see eye to eye with Mourinho, with Luke Shaw frozen out of the first-team fold after the former United boss suggested he lacked football intelligence.”

“Shaw has previously said Mourinho was right to criticise him in a bid to try and improve his performances but the left-back recently admitted it was a “very difficult time” of his career.

“Since Solskjaer’s appointment, however, Shaw has flourished, forcing his way back into the England set-up after a three-year absence, and Pogba believes the current United manager has played a crucial role in helping his team-mate’s qualities come to the fore.”

“Maybe [Solskjaer’s methods work] because he is a bit closer to the people,” Pogba explained.

“Every coach has their own way to coach and deals with players, and as a player, you have to adapt. Sometimes it doesn’t suit you and sometimes it does.”

“Ole has helped Luke a lot, it was a difficult season with Luke and Mourinho, and he has proved he has the quality he always had and the trust of the manager.”

According to Sky Sports, “Pogba’s comments came after United avenged October’s humiliating 6-1 defeat at the hands of Mourinho’s Spurs with a 3-1 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.”

“Mourinho hit back at Solskjaer in a heated exchange of words after the United boss criticized Heung-Min Son’s involvement in Edinson Cavani’s controversial disallowed opener.”

Pogba was equally dismissive of Mourinho’s attempt to deflect away from Tottenham’s performance, adding with a smile.

He said, “I don’t know what happened, I’m sure Mourinho said something that would make people speak, that’s what he does.”

“We got the result we wanted, Ole knows it and we enjoyed that moment because we know Mourinho and we know what he likes. We don’t need this [war of words], we just focus on us.”

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“We won the game, he lost the game and he doesn’t want to speak about the game, he wants to speak about the dad of someone, that’s what he does. Everybody knows him, it’s very Mourinho.”

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