Paul Pogba's agent Mino Raiola has suggested Paul Scholes "wouldn't recognise a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill" following the ex-Manchester United midfielder's criticism of the Frenchman.

World Cup winner Pogba has been handed the captain's armband by Jose Mourinho for the first two Premier League games of the season.

However, Scholes, who won 11 Premier League titles during his time at Old Trafford, delivered a damning assessment of Pogba's leadership credentials after United's 3-2 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.

"There's a lack of leaders in the team, that's why we thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn't there," Scholes told Optus Sports. "He had another really poor game. He's so inconsistent."

Those quotes prompted a response from Pogba's agent Raiola on Twitter on Tuesday.

He wrote: "Some people need to talk for fear of being forgotten. Paul Scholes wouldn’t recognize a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill. @paulpogba."

There have been suggestions United could consider hiring a director of football to assist executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward in transfer matters, and Raiola, who rarely tweets, added: "Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba. Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club @paulpogba."

Scholes' former team-mate Gary Neville then urged Pogba to silence his agent in the wake of Raiola's comments.

"Let’s hope @paulpogba leads his agent and shuts him up!" he tweeted.

Pogba had been critical of his own performance against Brighton after the match and had conceded his attitude was lacking.

"You always have to be focused and play better than the last game," the midfielder said to Sky Sports.

"The attitude has to be right and I think maybe we missed that.

"The attitude we had was not like we wanted to beat them. They had more hunger than us. I put myself first, my attitude wasn't right enough.

"We keep trying and pushing, and it is going to be a big lesson for us."