"'His Excellency' Pogba liked to leave the stadium in his Rolls-Royce," says Jose Mourinho

What's the story?

Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken a dig at star midfielder Paul Pogba and claimed he would have been sacked if the Frenchman was not treated well.

In case you didn't know...

The relationship between Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba was strained beyond repair. In fact, one of the reasons for Manchester United sacking had been his relationship with the players.

Jose had stripped Pogba of the vice-captaincy in September after a disastrous start to the campaign and had lashed out at the players during various interviews.

Manchester United finally decided to sack Mourinho after the loss against Liverpool in December and appointed former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær as the interim manager, who has since been made permanent.

The heart of the matter

The Telegraph quoted Mourinho while speaking in a coaching seminar in Portugal on Monday,

“We would play a team that was 30 kilometres from Manchester and a player asked me if after the game he could return to Manchester without the team and go on his own,” Mourinho explained. “I told him, ‘If we went to London and you wanted to stay there, that would be one thing. But this is close, it doesn’t make sense’.

“The guy was upset. But then we won the game and he asked me again. Because I was happy, I gave in a little and said, ‘At least leave on the bus and ask your chauffeur to catch up with you 10 minutes from the stadium, then go as you wish’.

“And this guy in the locker-room still wasn’t happy. I went to the press conference and when I arrived at the team bus, parked beside it was a Rolls-Royce with his chauffeur.

“After all, the car was new and His Excellency would like to leave the stadium in his Rolls-Royce. Now how do we deal with this? You [tell him] never go in the Rolls? You can go when I’m happy? Or you solve this thing in another way to get me ‘on vacation’.”

What's next?

Jose Mourinho has been acting as a pundit after being sacked for the third time in eight years. Meanwhile, Manchester United has rebounded after a torrid start and are fighting for a top 4 finish and are in the Champions League quarter-finals, where mighty Barcelona awaits them.