Jose Mourinho: 'Paul Pogba out for the long term'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 29 September 2017

Jose Mourinho says that Manchester United's Paul Pogba is out for the "long term" with the injury picked up against Basel earlier this month, which may require surgery.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has revealed that he expects midfielder Paul Pogba to be on the sidelines for the "long term" after picking up a hamstring injury.

The France international has been out of action since pulling up during the first half of the Red Devils' routine 3-0 win against Basel in the Champions League on September 12.

Mourinho has refused to put a timeline on the 24-year-old's recovery when probed over the past fortnight, but it emerged earlier this week that surgery will likely be required to rectify the damage.

Former Juventus midfielder Pogba is now expected to face months, rather than weeks, out of action while he recovers.

"Paul Pogba's injured; he cannot play tomorrow and his injury I cannot have hope like [Phil] Jones or [Antonio] Valencia who I can see in training and hope for positive answer.

"So don't speak about long term injuries – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rojo - I don't speak about them."

Michael Carrick has also been ruled out of Saturday afternoon's home clash against Crystal Palace, while Marouane Fellaini is touch and go.