Manchester United news: Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic being dragged down by sub-standard squad, says Danny Mills

Pogba and Ibrahimovic have come in for criticism due to underperforming for United, but former England international Mills says the state of the rest of the squad has a lot to answer for that

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba are being 'dragged down' by their Manchester United teammates, says Danny Mills (Getty)

The standard of Manchester United’s squad is dragging their star players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, down to their current performance levels, according to former England defender Danny Mills.

United were humbled 4-0 at the weekend in Jose Mourinho’s return to Chelsea, and the heavy defeat leaves his side five points off Premier League leaders Manchester City ahead of their derby in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

Mourinho has had to face plenty of criticism over United’s recent performances, and in particular the alarming slump in form of £89m world record signing Pogba.

The Frenchman put in his best performance for the club in last week’s Europa League victory over Fenerbahce, but was once again deemed anonymous as United were embarrassed by Chelsea on Sunday.

Ibrahimovic has not fared much better of late either, with his goal drought in the Premier League now stretching to five matches following his impressive start of four goals in three games.

But according to BBC pundit Mills, the two marquee summer signings are not to blame, and the fault instead lies among the rest of the squad who are not up to scratch to bring the best out of Pogba and Ibrahimovic.

“I thought Manchester United would be great this season,” Mills said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I thought when Mourinho came in, an experienced manager [who’s] done all sorts in the Premier League, a fresh start [at] a big club, made some very, very good signings with some good players that were already there, a fantastic goalkeeper, I thought they’d be up there challenging and suddenly now it looks like a much bigger job than maybe we all thought.

“Zlatan, Pogba – I think they’re great players. They would be in my squad, if not in my team, every day of the week. I think there’s a lot of United players that maybe aren’t up to it and I think Zlatan and Pogba are maybe being dragged down by the standard of everybody else. “

Mourinho showed that he is desperate for the pair to find their form as he deployed them in last Thursday’s Champions League encounter, a match that many other managers would have chosen to rest key players. It was also an indication that the Portuguese may be concerned by United’s chances of finishing in the top four this season, given that winning the Europa league comes with the added bonus of an automatic Champions League place next year.