Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has delivered a defiant response to Paul Pogba’s attempts to force a Manchester United exit.
Pogba is desperate to join Real Madrid this summer and last month declared his intention to seek a ‘new challenge.’
United are adamant he is not for sale – and their valuation of around £180million is expected to be too high for even Real president Florentino Perez, with the Spanish side keen to move on players in order to fund any deal for Pogba.
Solskjaer has so far refused to admonish Pogba for his public attempts to secure a move – but made his feelings clear here in Perth, saying: “I can give him a new challenge!”
During a wide-ranging interview on the first leg of Man Utd’s tour to Australia and the Far East, the Norwegian remained adamant Pogba would be central to his planned revival of the club’s fortunes.
“I’ve said many times about Paul that he’s a top, top boy and a great player and he’s never, ever been a problem,” he said. “When we get him playing as he did when I came in, and if we get him playing like that again, he will win you over as well.
“I’ve not been upset by anything he’s said because we’ve had many conversations and I know exactly what Paul is thinking. I can give him a new challenge!”
Pogba enjoyed his best form at United during the opening weeks of Solskjaer’s caretaker reign last season – scoring nine goals in 11 games.
That saw confidence soar within the squad – and the manager believes the taste of success at Old Trafford will be enough to end the World Cup winner’s determination to join up with Zinedine Zidane at Santiago Bernabeu.
“Many of these players haven’t felt the winning feeling at this club, what it is to be at this club when you win,” said Solskjaer. “Yes David (De Gea) won the league, Ash (Young) has won the league and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling they have won the league here. But it’s not been consistent like we were (in the past). Then this club is a fantastic place to be.
“Jesse (Lingard), Marcus (Rashford), Paul, Andreas (Pereira) - the ones that have been in the academy when I was playing - when we went on that run early on, some of them said, ‘Wow - we have never had this feeling before.’
“But for me, the gaffer (Sir Alex Ferguson) would say, ‘We need to win 10 straight games to win the league - that’s not much to ask is it? Ten games in a row?’ And it wasn’t.
“That is the feeling I had all the time, ‘We can win the next 10.’
“And they felt in that period invincible and that is the winning feeling we want to create again.”
