Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar reached out to Paul Pogba after his latest spat with Jose Mourinho and tried to convince him to join him at PSG, according to reports. The French midfielder has had several run-ins with his manager at Manchester United, while television cameras picked up a particularly frosty exchange between them during training at Carrington last week.
Mourinho is believed to have been angry with a post Pogba made on Instagram, having already stripped him of his ‘second captain’ status.
And now Goal.com are reporting that Pogba’s very public spat with Mourinho caught the attention of Neymar, who made a call to the Frenchman at the end of September.
He asked Pogba if he was still happy at Old Trafford, and under Mourinho, or whether he would be open to moving to PSG in the near future.
The two players struck up a friendship several years ago, and Neymar tried to convince him to move to Barcelona back in 2016 – though he opted for a return to United.
Pogba played in his side’s goalless draw against Valencia on Tuesday evening, and in the mixed zone afterwards he said he was no longer allowed to give interviews after appearing to criticise Mourinho’s tactics when he said the club needed to ‘attack, attack, attack’ more.
Despite Mourinho’s fragile relationship with Pogba, United have no intention of selling a player they spent £89m on to prise away from Juventus. PSG, meanwhile, would be unable to secure a deal in January due to Financial Fair Play restrictions.
United face a must-win game on Saturday against Newcastle, having failed to win their last four home matches, and Mourinho will face a very difficult few weeks during the international break if they fail to collect three points.