Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Samuel Luckhurst

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hits back at Mino Raiola over Paul Pogba's future

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists Paul Pogba is focused on helping Manchester United despite his agent Mino Raiola claiming the midfielder's Old Trafford career is 'over'.

Pogba started United's Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig on the bench a day after Raiola claimed the Frenchman was 'unhappy' at the club and would not sign a new contract.

Pogba, 27, emerged on the hour and played a key role in a fruitless fightback, claiming United's second goal from a corner in their eventual 3-2 defeat.

United's ejection from the Champions League is bound to intensify Raiola's efforts to sell Pogba in the January transfer window and Solskjaer suggested the Frenchman should clarify if he is unhappy at the club.

"You have to ask Paul if he is happy or not," Solskjaer said. "I'm not going to speak for him. Paul is focused on doing his best for the team and when he’s here he’s working hard in training just needs to focus on his performances.

"The squad is fine, they're a team, they stick together. As soon as Paul's agent realises this is a team sport and we work together the better and that's maybe the last thing I'll say on that.

"What we speak about in the background is something... I'm not gonna talk about Paul's agent anymore."

United conceded first for the 10th time in 16 Premier League and Champions League matches this season in Leipzig, where they fell 3-0 down.

Solskjaer has presided over five successive victories away from home in the Premier League but United lost both European away ties to Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir after going behind.

"Today we never got going," Solskjaer conceded. "That's right, as I said before in other games where we conceded the first goal we started pretty well and played pretty well.

"In Istanbul, the first 10 minutes we played pretty well but today we didn't start until 2-0 and that's something we need to address even more.

"Of course we've addressed it, of course we've spoken about it, of course we talk about, especially Leipzig - what they do early on in the game, we need to manage that one. But we didn't manage it well enough, definitely."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.