Paul Pogba says he has been out for so long he has forgotten what it is like to play football.
Manchester United's record £89million signing has not played since Boxing Day, having undergone surgery to address an ankle problem that has wrecked his season.
Pogba, who had played just eight times this term, is targeting a return to action if and when the season resumes after the suspension of games due to the coronavirus.
But the 27-year-old, whose United future remains uncertain, said it had been so long since he last played, he has forgotten what it is like to be involved in a competitive game.
“To be honest, yeah,” said Pogba. “I don’t even know how it feels like any more. I can’t wait to have this feeling again.
“I miss it because that’s my job, to play football. I really enjoy playing football.”
Pogba revealed his United-supporting brother helped convince him to leave United for Juventus in 2012, before returning to Old Trafford in 2016.
“My brother, the United fan, told me he was really angry – even more than me – when I didn’t play,” said Pogba, speaking to United's official podcast.
“He told me: ‘No, go. You can play in this team. If they don’t want you here, go somewhere else. They will see'.
“My mother always told me: ‘You will go somewhere but come back.’ She always said this. I was like: ‘We will see’.
“But you know mothers and the things she said: ‘You will come back here, don’t worry’ and that was just after.
"She said you will come back to Manchester, don’t worry, and I did.
“When I came back, I was really happy to come back. I left it and didn’t finish.
"I started something but I didn’t finish, I just went somewhere else. To finish it.
“Obviously, coming back where I started was for me, why I was really happy. Now I’m ready to come as a confirmed player not a youth player.”
*Pogba was speaking to the Official Manchester United Podcast, which can be accessed via the club's official website, app and other podcast platforms.
