Jose Mourinho insists that he never threatened Paul Pogba with a fine.
Pogba made headlines last week when the Manchester United midfielder claimed that he was unable to be completely open about his thoughts on his place at the club because he would risk being fined.
But Mourinho is adamant that that has nothing to do with him as he defended his relationship with Pogba, revealing that he’s only fined one player during his time at Old Trafford.
“You have to ask Paul,” Mourinho said when asked what Pogba meant. “I’m here for two years and a couple of months and the only player that was fined was Anthony Martial, so it is not easy to be fined here, so you have to ask him.
“I didn’t ask him, I’m not going to ask him. I repeat: I want him to work the way he is doing and play the way he is doing and that’s the only thing that matters.”
It was reported at the beginning of the month that Martial was facing a fine of £180,000 after failing to return to United’s pre-season training camp following the birth of his son.
The forward travelled to Paris to be with his partner and Mourinho admitted at the time that he didn’t know whether Martial would be rejoining his teammates, passing a question about the 22-year-old on to United’s press officer.
It’s now looking unlikely that Martial will leave United this summer after the club failed to bring in a replacement before the transfer deadline for English teams.
Pogba, meanwhile, will continue to captain the Red Devils in Sunday’s Premier League clash against Brighton.
