Paul Pogba hits back at Ralf Rangnick after hinting that the midfielder had played his last game for Manchester United
Taking to Twitter during his side’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal yesterday, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba appeared to hit back at interim manager Ralf Rangnick by saying ‘it was not over’, after the German hinted that the player had already played his last game for the club.
Pogba missed the game against the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium after picking up a calf injury in United’s previous match against Liverpool, having to be replaced in the opening ten minutes of the game after starting alongside Nemanja Matic in midfield.
During the match against the north London side yesterday, the Frenchman posted a message on social media, declaring that he was gutted not to be able to help the team and that he would work even harder to come back stronger from his injury before the end of the season.
Without the 29-year-old in the middle of the park, the Red Devils put out a midfield pairing of Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic, but the duo were unable to prevent the Gunners from smashing three goals past them and denting their top-four hopes this season.
“I don’t think it’s very likely he will play again”
The result left United in sixth place, six points away from fourth-placed Arsenal, who also have a game in hand to use to their advantage. As things stand, the Manchester side will miss out on a Champions League qualification spot at the end of the campaign.
Prior to the trip to north London, Rangnick had revealed in his pre-match conference that Pogba was unlikely to play again for the club as the doctors informed him that the France international’s injury would take a minimum of four weeks to recover.
“The doctor told me it will take four weeks minimum for him to recover and the last game is at the end of May. I don’t think it’s very likely he will play again.”
Although the Twitter post by Pogba may be viewed as a harmless message from the player showing his willingness to return and help his club, the circumstances under which it has been put out on social media tell a different story.
The former Juventus star sees his current deal with Man United run out in the summer, and thus far, there have been no indications that the midfielder is keen to continue his career in Manchester. If, as Rangnick said, the Frenchman is unlikely to be passed fit before the end of the season, then he has effectively played his last game for the club when he took to the pitch against Liverpool.
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Furthermore, it is not known if Rangick’s comments about Pogba not ‘playing again’ is referring to the academy graduate not returning to action ever again given his contract situation in the summer, or he was speaking strictly about returning to the pitch before the end of the current campaign.
There clearly seems to be a lot of ambiguity regarding the intent behind both Rangnick and Pogba’s comments, but for the sake of the team going forward, we can hope that is resolved behind the scenes. Only a few weeks remain for us to try and push up the Premier Lague table to secure a top-four spot, and our focus needs to be on that rather than dealing with potential issues like this.
