Ralf Rangnick
Paul Pogba’s future at Manchester United has not been discussed by interim manager Ralf Rangnick. The 28-year-old is out of contract in June and expected to leave United on a free for the second time exactly 10 years on from when he ran down his previous deal at the club. Rangnick said the topic of out of contract players had not been broached even though he is due to assume a consultancy role from July 1.
Ralf Rangnick said: “I’m happy to have him back in the squad as I said he might be playing from the start tomorrow. I see his best possible position for me as one of the central midfield positions as either an 8 or 10, but the way we’re currently playing I’d rather see him in the 8 position but we’ll have to see, it’s up to him now. His contract is expiring in the summer and if, in the end, he would like to stay or go somewhere else he has to show up. It’s not only in the interest of us as a club, but it’s in his personal interest that he plays and performs at the highest possible level in the next couple of weeks. We haven’t spoken about that (his future) at all so far, not only about Paul’s situation but also other players with contracts expiring in the summer, we also didn’t speak about new players so far. My focus now is to play the best possible season we can, to be as successful as we can be and for Paul, it is in his own interest to play on a high level to have a good performance tomorrow and do everything to get into the first XI – that will not automatically happen because we have other good players in that area. Fred has been doing well in the last weeks, since I arrived we reduced the amount of goals we conceded. It’s up to him, in the end, the players themselves decide who will be in the starting line up and the group is smaller now but still strong enough and competitive enough to be successful. I mean, other players have developed this kind of football and we haven’t played as aggressive as I would have wanted us to play but we improved and got better in the last week. Let’s wait and see. I’ll be excited myself to see how Paul is doing and like all the other players for me, he is now a new player and he can show me and the team and the fans and everyone in England how good and what high level he can play. Let’s just wait and see what he can show and what he can deliver.”
