Players lost confidence under Jose Mourinho, says Pogba
Paul Pogba has exclusively told Sky that he wants Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to become Manchester United’s permanent manager.
Caretaker boss Solskjaer has led United to the Champions League quarter-finals and to within two points of the Premier League’s top four.
He took charge after Jose Mourinho was sacked following the club’s worst start to a season in 28 years.
Fractures in Pogba’s relationship with Mourinho began to emerge in September last year when the France World Cup winner was stripped of the vice-captaincy before Sky Sports News filmed them having an animated disagreement on the training ground.
Pogba has scored nine goals in 17 matches under Solskjaer, and says the former United player’s arrival had restored the players’ “freedom”.
“Of course we want him to stay,” Pogba said of Solskjaer. “The results have been great. I have a great relationship with him, he has a great relationship with the players.
“When a player is happy, he wants to keep being happy. Solskjaer deserves it. He knows the club, he knows everything about the club.
“He is a really happy coach that gave confidence back to the players.
“This gave us the freedom to play and enjoy football again because maybe we lost that with the results that we had before.”
Following Mourinho’s sacking in December, Pogba posted a cryptic tweet – which may have been pre-scheduled and was quickly deleted – that some felt was a dig at his departing manager.
“Maybe we lost confidence, maybe things went wrong,” Pogba said. “A lot of talking outside that we weren’t used to.
“I don’t like to talk about the past. I like to talk about the future because that’s what matters.
“We are better now and the results have been brilliant. We are back in the top four.”
