Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho wants Paul Pogba to be overtaken as world's most expensive player

People would be calling him a success if he was half the price, the United boss insisted

Mourinho wants Pogba to play free of the pressure of the price tag (Getty)

Jose Mourinho is hoping Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba will lose his most expensive player in the world tag this summer to reduce the pressure on him.

The Frenchman signed from Juventus after the most protracted transfer of the summer for £89m, surpassing the £84m Real Madrid spent on Gareth Bale in 2014.

Manchester United are one of the favourites to break that record again this summer with the likes of Bale and Antoine Griezmann potentially leaving their clubs.

And Mourinho insisted that Pogba’s first season back at United would have been deemed a success if critics’ opinions had not been skewed by his transfer fee.

“The problem is the price tag on his back,” he said. “I hope next summer he is no longer the highest transfer fee and then the pressure goes to somebody else.

“If his transfer fee was half of what it was, everyone would be saying; 'What a buy, he is playing more than good.'

“Everybody expects performances according to that huge transfer fee and that brings pressure and sometimes unfair analysis.

“He had very good matches. The best in the world is almost always the goalscorer, I feel a bit unfairly, so to say (Pogba) is the best in the world is difficult to say.

“To be the best midfield player, I think so. I don't see another one with everything he has. He has to develop, of course he has to.”