Manchester United will be without world record signing Paul Pogba for their Premier League opener against Bournemouth tomorrow due to a suspension, the Football Association said on yesterday.
Pogba signed for United for 89mn pounds ($115mn)on Tuesday, but will have to wait to make his debut after the FA named the France international as one of four players who will be suspended for the opening weekend. Pogba’s suspension has been carried over from Juventus’ Italian Cup campaign last season where he picked up bookings in the semi-final against Inter Milan and the final victory over AC Milan.
Manager Jose Mourinho only learned two days ago that he would be without his marquee summer signing for his new club’s opening fixture.
“I knew the situation with the yellow cards but I didn’t know if an accumulation would bring a suspension,” he told journalists yesterday.
“I didn’t know if a suspension from Italian football would be for the corresponding competition in England, which would be the first FA Cup match.”
Regardless of the suspension, it was unlikely that Mourinho would have handed the 23-year-old his debut, with Pogba only recently returning from his holiday.
Pogba’s new United teammate Chris Smalling, Tottenham Hotspur’s Mousa Dembele and Robert Huth of Leicester City are the other players who will miss this weekend’s kick off due to suspension.
Pogba is now in line to make his United debut in their first home game of the season, against Southampton on Aug. 19.
Meanwhile,  Belgian winger Adnan Januzaj has joined Sunderland on a season-long loan from Manchester United, his new club announced yesterday.
The move will reunite Januzaj, 21, with Sunderland manager David Moyes, who gave him his United debut in August 2013.
Januzaj made a strong impression in the 2013-14 season, but failed to hold down a first-team place at United and spent the first half of last season on loan at Borussia Dortmund.“Adnan will give us a different variation,” Moyes told a press conference. “I have to get him back to the level he played at two years ago.
“He will get every opportunity to do the business. I’m hoping the Sunderland fans will see the real Adnan Januzaj.” Sunderland have not revealed if the deal contains an option to buy.