Pogba set for Manchester United debut

Paul Pogba will start training with Manchester United’s first team on Tuesday and is in line for a debut against Southampton on Friday night.

United manager Jose Mourinho left the £89million France midfielder behind in Manchester on Sunday as his side opened their campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win at Bournemouth .

Pogba was suspended following two yellow cards late last season with Juventus, one in the Coppa Italia final, his last game for the Turin club.

The 23-year-old also took an extended holiday following his efforts for France at Euro 2016, but the midfielder has been working on his own at United’s training ground at Carrington in a bid to achieve peak fitness.

United won without him at the Vitality Stadium thanks to goals from Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Yet Mourinho chose to single out for special praise Marouane Fellaini – whose place could directly threatened by Pogba’s arrival.

“With Fellaini I always have the feeling that he was not loved by the general Red people,” said the manager. “But if he plays like he’s playing now, they have to love him because he’s being so important for us.”

Fellaini, targeted by a section of United fans last week for helping to hand Leicester’s Jamie Vardy an equaliser at Wembley in the Community Shield , said: “I hope we will see more goals this season but we have to keep working and keep improving every game. The manager is helping bring this feeling of aggression and character that we need to win games, which is very important.

“We have to improve every game if we want to do something well this season and we want to prove to everyone that Man United are back.”

Both Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly were named in the starting line-up alongside Fellaini, and impressed on their Premier League debuts.

Fellaini. a target for former manager David Moyes at Sunderland , said: “The new guys are good and bring quality. Zlatan had one chance and got one goal. Bailly was strong defensively and in the Premier League we need that and we hope he can continue like that.

“Like everybody, I want to start, so I was happy to start and show my quality and show the manager what I can do.”