Our Relationship Is Good – Mourinho Denies Pogba 'Confrontation'
After a recent confrontation, Jose Mourinho said Paul Pogba is "a player like the others, no player is bigger than the club" but insisted their relationship is fine.
Jose Mourinho insists his relationship with Paul Pogba is good and denied the pair had a confrontation in training on Wednesday despite footage appearing to suggest otherwise.
Video this week circulated showed Mourinho and Pogba seemingly engage in a verbal disagreement, with media cameras in attendance.
Pogba greeted United's coaches and players but then looked bothered by something Mourinho said, with reports claiming the manager was grilling him about a social media post published just after the EFL Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Derby County on Tuesday.
Wednesday's footage was the basis for several questions put to the Portuguese during his news conference on Friday, and he was adamant there is no problem between the two.
"Paul told you in one of his appearances in the famous mixed zone and it's exactly it, he's correct, it's a good player-manager relationship," Mourinho told reporters.
"I can anticipate more questions and say the relationship is good. Nobody trained better than Pogba this week, and tomorrow [Saturday] he plays, so end of story.
"He is a player like the others, no player is bigger than the club and if I'm happy with his work, he plays. If I'm not, he doesn't play.
"I'm happy with his work this week, really happy. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday especially, he trained really well. The team needs good players, he is good. The team needs personality to play, he has it.
"I don't care about the cameras. What confrontation? You think it was a confrontation? There was no confrontation."
Nevertheless, Mourinho refused to reveal what he said to provoke Pogba's reaction.
"No, I cannot tell you," he added. "The training session was open, you had some cameras with potential to get some of the words.
"Maybe you have to change that potential if you want to know everything, because I'm not going to comment."
It was put to Mourinho the whole episode had caused disruption in the lead up to a potentially tricky match at West Ham on Saturday, though he insisted disagreements are part of the job, before telling the assembled media to forget the possibility of ever having access to full training sessions.
"Disruptive? I think for you it was amazing, because you made a story, an incredible story out of 15 minutes of open training session," he added.
"Maybe it is your fault [United's press officer] … what happened the other day happens many days, conversations with players I have many, many, many times.
"It was not the case, but loud criticism, loud instructions happen every day. Coaching is about that, but you make a story about it.
"So, I'm happy the rules are only 15 minutes once a month and situations like that are not going to change, there is no chance you will watch a [full] session."
