Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick says it is not his job to convince Paul Pogba or any other player to stay at Old Trafford.
The midfielder’s future is, yet again, the subject of intense speculation with the player out of contract next summer.
Rangnick said Pogba was due to return to the UK from Dubai on Friday, where he undertook a warm-weather rehabilitation programme to recover from a thigh injury sustained on international duty with France in November.
Rangnick anticipates it will be another two weeks until Pogba can return to first-team training and then a further two weeks to reach the required level of intensity to play in his United system.
He said he is looking forward to working with Pogba but said it was not his job – nor that of anyone else at the club – to convince any player of the merits of staying at United.
“Players have to want to stay and play for the club,” the former RB Leipzig coach said.
“For a big club like Manchester United, if a player does not want to play for a club like Manchester United, even in the long term, I don’t think it makes sense to convince him to change his mind.
“He can be an important player, I’m fully aware of that, but this is true for all the other players that we have.
“I’m not only the coach of Paul Pogba once he’s fully fit, I’m also the coach of all the other players and my ambition is to make them better, to develop each individual player, and this is only possible by improving the performance of the whole team.”
Rangnick also said he had told team doctor Steve McNally and the head of rehabilitation and physiotherapy Robin Sadler that in future he did not want players to travel away from the club for treatment.
The German is set to make significant changes to the side who drew with Young Boys in a Champions League dead rubber on Wednesday night.
That line-up featured 11 changes from the team who took on and beat Crystal Palace last Sunday in Rangnick’s first official match in charge since the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
PA
