Mourinho coy on Pogba and hints at other options

José Mourinho has said he has three different choices for his final major transfer, of which Paul Pogba is only one. Although the Manchester United manager did not directly name the Juventus midfielder, he was clear that Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, has been told of a trio of players for the position.
“We know the profile of the player we want, we have three faces who fit the profile,” Mourinho said. “I am really confident Mr Woodward and the owners can get the profile of the player I think the squad needs.”
Paris Saint-Germain’s Blaise Matuidi and Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic could be options for the Portuguese, who said of Pogba: “I don’t confirm and I don’t deny. I cannot tell. First of all because I don’t think it’s correct to speak about players from other clubs. He’s a Juventus player, not a Manchester United player. The only thing I can say is that my board, my directors, did a fantastic job to do 75% of the job I asked them to do.
“I asked them for four profiles of players, I gave them a few options and they did for me 75% of the job and we just have 25% to do before 31 August. So we are in a great position to do what I consider will be a great market for us.” Those players already acquired are Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly.
Meanwhile, Pogba’s potential world record transfer to United isn’t finalised yet, the Juventus midfielder’s agent said yesterday. United have reportedly had an $86 million offer ($113 million, 102 million euros) turned down by the Italian champions as they try to lure France international pogba back to Old Trafford four years after allowing him to leave on a free transfer.
Jose Mourinho’s side are expected to return with an improved bid that approaches Juventus’s £100 million asking price after United executive vice-chairman Woodward met pogba’s agent Mino Raiola to thrash out personal terms this week. But Raiola took to Twitter to insist the deal was not concluded yet. “There’s no deal done regarding Paul pogba, lots of bla, bla, bla,” Raiola tweeted on his verified account.
Luke Shaw, meanwhile, has admitted he feared he may never play again after breaking his right leg last season. Shaw suffered a double fracture in Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven last September, which finished the left-back’s season.
He made his comeback in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic, playing the first-half before being taken off at half-time. He said: “I think when I did it, the first thought that went through my head was: ‘Am I going to play football again or how long am I going to be out for?’ It wasn’t too much about the pain because I could deal with that.
“But there was a fear about how long it was going to take or if I was I was even going to be back playing football. But as I went through it [the recovery process] I knew I was coming back and I’m not looking back, I’m just looking forward now. My leg feels great, I just want to push on in this pre-season and get fully fit.”
Of Mourinho, Shaw said: “I’m really looking forward to working with him … I’ve spoken to him a couple of times, all the players have talked as well, we are going to be challenging for every title that we can go for this season.
“It’s a fresh new start with a new manager, we’re bringing in some great players, maybe there’s a couple more to come; we all feel strong as a group and with the tactical side of what José wants to do we’re practising in training and hopefully we can take that into games and show a very strong side.”