Jose Mourinho tells Paul Pogba that 'no player is bigger than Manchester United'

Mourinho and Pogba's relationship has come under scrutiny after a tumultuous week at Old Trafford

Jose Mourinho has reminded Paul Pogba that no player is bigger than Manchester United and he must "defend" that, though he will not drop the midfielder following a turbulent week at the club.

The United manager insisted that his relationship with Pogba is “good” on Friday and confirmed that the 25-year-old will play in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against West Ham United.

However, Mourinho refused to expand on his decision to strip Pogba of United’s vice-captaincy earlier this week and played down a training ground spat between the pair which was caught by television cameras.

At his press conference to preview the trip to West Ham, Mourinho said that Pogba had impressed in training and would play on Saturday.

“He’s a player like the others,” he said. “No player is bigger than the club and if I’m happy with his work he plays. If I’m not happy he doesn’t play.

“I’m happy with his work this week, really happy. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday especially because today was not so significant but he trained really well.

“The team needs good players, players with personality to play, he has and he plays tomorrow.”

When asked whether he felt the tension between him and Pogba risked damaging the club’s reputation, Mourinho reiterated: “Manchester United is bigger than anyone and I have to defend that.”

Pogba’s thinly-veiled criticism of United’s approach to last Saturday’s draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers resulted in Mourinho informing the midfielder that he would no longer deputise for club captain Antonio Valencia.

Mourinho refused to expand on this decision, but suggested that it was made after several weeks of analysing Pogba’s performances as captain, rather in reaction to his post-Wolves comments.

“Paul and the other players in the squad know in detail the reason why myself and my coaching staff, we decide to do that, and I always analyse a player as a player when a player is captain,” he said.

“I analyse the player by the player and captain perspective and after weeks of analysing and changing opinions with my coaching staff we made the decision. Paul is just a player and not a captain.

Pogba and Mourinho were seen in a tense exchange at training (Getty)

“Decision made, I informed the player and the players and when I was asked before the match on Tuesday I confirm and now I confirm and now, end of the story.

On his working relationship with Pogba, Mourinho added: “I can anticipate more questions by saying the relation of player [and] manager is good. It is not anymore a relation [of] captain or one-of-the-captain’s [and] manager. The relation is good.”

Mourinho rested Pogba for Tuesday’s shock EFL Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Derby County and the following day, the pair shared a tense exchange during an open training session in front of Sky Sports cameras.

The United manager believed Pogba had made light of United’s defeat in an Instagram video posted after the final whistle and confronted the 25-year-old.

Pogba explained to Mourinho that the post had been made during the game, only for Old Trafford’s patchy Wi-Fi network to delay its publication. Mourinho accepted this explanation and the matter is now considered to have been resolved.

“I think for you it was amazing because you made a story, an incredible story out of 15 minutes of open training session,” Mourinho said of the incident.

“Maybe it is [the United press officer’s fault]. We shouldn’t have 15 minutes of training session open because what happened the other day happens many days.

“Conversations with players, I have many many many times,” he added. “Loud critic, loud instruction happens every day, coaching is about that, but you make stories about it, so I’m happy the rules are only 15 minutes once a month.

“With situations like that, it’s not going to change. There is no chance I’m going to open a training session and let you watch a training session.”