French footballer Paul Pogba on Sunday thanked Jose Mourinho, who was recently sacked as Manchester United manager, for helping him “improve as a person”.
The relationship between the former Man United coach and Pogba hit a nadir in the last few months which many believe led to the sacking of Portuguese. As per reports doing round on the internet, Mourinho even suggested United players to stay away from Pogba before leaving the club following his sacking on Tuesday.
Mourinho joined Premier League giants in 2016 by replacing Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Under his watchful eyes, United won the Europa League and League Cup. However, Mourinho’s third season with United was dominated by media reports of a rift with Pogba.
Mourinho had also stripped Pogba as the vice-captain of the team earlier this season. The midfielder was also dropped for the final three league games during Mourinho’s tenure. In spite of the developments, Pogba insisted that he had no hard feelings towards the Portuguese.
“We won trophies with Jose and I want to thank him for that. Not everything worked well, but (some) things went well,” Pogba was quoted as saying to the British media.
“He made me improve, as a person as well, and that’s it. That’s the past, I want to thank him for that. I’m sure that is the same for all the players,” Pogba added.
Pogba was included in Man United squad under caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and produced two assists in Saturday’s 5-1 thrashing of Cardiff City.
“The performance of the team was great and we are happy that the first game of the manager starts like this,” Pogba added. “It’s important now to carry on like that. We cannot play like this and win with five goals and then the next game lose.”
Currently, United are sixth in the Premier League standings with 29 points after 18 matches.