“Pogba liked Solskjaer, and got on with replacement Ralf Rangnick too. The pair had a productive meeting early on; Rangnick was straight with Pogba and they talked football.
The only occasion when a touch of tension came was when Rangnick left Pogba out of the line-up for the 1-0 defeat at
Everton in April by reminding him his foot was sore, as if by way of explanation. Pogba had been playing through the issue without complaint, so the detail seemed superfluous to Rangnick’s decision to drop him. Ironically, Pogba had to be sent on in the first half of that game when Fred suffered an injury.
Rangnick valued Pogba’s efforts to mediate aspects of the dressing room. He was also one of the players to command major respect from Cristiano Ronaldo.
On another occasion, when a meeting of some players with Rangnick about form turned unexpectedly
into a targeted tactical discussion, Pogba went back later to apologise to United’s interim manager for the way things had gone.
That’s why, whatever the criticisms — which went as far as Mourinho once branding Pogba a “virus” — he always remained a liked figure in the dressing room.”
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The Athletic
