The infirmities and absurdities of Manchester United are being laid bare at the moment, as a manager incompatible with how his club is run finds himself incompatible with one of his club's biggest stars.
Today has seen tip into farce, with Paul Pogba's agent Mino Raiola taking to Twitter to call out Paul Scholes. It all began after Sunday's defeat to Brighton, with Paul Pogba granting a post-match interview to Sky in which he "fronted up" as captain, admitting that his attitude pre-game was wrong.
Paul Scholes was unimpressed with Pogba's public comments:
I hope that is lost in translation. There is no defence for that comment, there is no defence for it. You say it to yourself, don't you? You're constantly saying it to yourself: 'Attitude right, make sure it's right.' You don't need other people to tell you. You don't need a manager to tell you that, or your teammates.
Pogba has been granting a lot of interviews lately, and last week accentuated a rift between him and Mourinho when he admitted that there are things he cannot say or else he would be fined.
In his post-Brighton comments, Pogba dropped what could be construed as a jibe toward his manager, in saying that Brighton were better prepared for the game than United.
So amid all the chaos, Raiola decided to send his third and fourth tweets of the year.
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
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) August 21, 2018
Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba. Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club @paulpogba
— Mino Raiola (@MinoRaiola) August 21, 2018
Raiola, famously, has some previous at Old Trafford. When Pogba left United for Juventus, Alex Ferguson blamed Raiola, writing in his second autobiography that "there are one or two football agents I simply do not like, and Mino Raiola is one of them".
Far more scathing was an appearance before the Sale Sharks rugby team last year. When asked about Pogba, Ferguson confirmed that United offered him a good contract, but that Raiola intervened.
Paul Pogba? He had a bad agent. A shitbag.
Paul Pogba was well known to us. We knew he was a good player. He's still a good player. We offered him the best contract.
There's some slightly grainy footage below.
Alex Ferguson Mino Raiola
