In the aftermath of Manchester United's stalemate against Southampton at the St.Mary's Stadium, it has come to light that manager Jose Mourinho has apparently called his star midfielder, Paul Pogba a virus who is infecting the dressing room.
The problems at Manchester United seems to grow deeper by the day as it is not just the lack of cohesion on the pitch but also off the pitch that is affecting the club.
Once perched firmly on top of British football, United is a far cry from their glory days as they sit at seventh place on the league table with a negative goal difference after fourteen matches; and Saturday's draw at St.Mary's only compounded their plight.
As bad as United has been, Southampton has been worse sitting in the drop zone but even they managed to rush to a two-goal lead against the red devils. This was largely due to a horrible midfield performance from United and Pogba was central to the flop show.
The Frenchman was dispossessed eight times by opponents, lost 15 of 30 duels and completed less than 85 percent of his passes. Although Mourinho was critical of United's midfield performance, he did not single him out in front of the press.
But reports have now emerged that the Portuguese went in hard on the Frenchman in the dressing room in front of his teammates.
"Jose called Pogba a virus in front of all the players," Fox Sports quoted a source close to Old Trafford.
"He told him 'you are like a person with a flu with a virus in a closed room — you pass that virus to the others.'
"He also told him 'you don't play, you don't respect players and supporters and you kill the mentality of good, honest people around you'."
This is not the first burst up between the pair as relations have been rocky between them for a long time and Mourinho had raised questions over Pogba's attitude before. The manager had even told Pogba in front of his teammates that he would never captain United again.
With performances betraying their standards and dissension clearly in the ranks, one feels someone will soon depart the Old Trafford dressing room and it might not be with fond memories.
