Man Utd defender Eric Bailly says the perception that club team-mate Paul Pogba “doesn’t care” is “not true”.
The 27-year-old has been subject of regular speculation ever since returning to Old Trafford from Juventus in 2016 for a then world-record fee, thanks in no small part to comments by his outspoken agent.
Mino Raiola caused a stir in December when claiming his client was unhappy and “needs to change team”, leading Pogba to post on Instagram suggesting that he had no intention of leaving any time soon.
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The France international’s contract expires in 2022 after Man Utd triggered the one-year extension clause in his deal and Pogba recently said he would “speak with the club and see what’s going on”.
His form has been much better this season with the Red Devils second in the Premier League and Bailly has dismissed any notion that Pogba isn’t bothered about playing for Man Utd.
“Paul Pogba is always happy, he portrays one image, and if you don’t know him you’d say that this guy doesn’t care, he’s not concentrating or fixing on what he needs to do,” Bailly told Guillem Balague’s official YouTube channel. “But he’s not like that at all.
“He’s very professional and works really hard. People look and say he doesn’t care, but that’s just not true for me. You’ve got to know him to really see what type of person he is.
“Above everything, he is a really hard worker, a professional player.”
Meanwhile, Raiola yesterday backtracked on his claims that Pogba could leave Old Trafford in the coming months.
Raiola said: “I just expressed an opinion, I didn’t want to cause any problem.
“I don’t think that it destabilised anybody, because they [Man Utd] had a fantastic run and they were even first, for a period, in the league.
“You think big players like Paul Pogba – or [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer, who won everything in his life – get destabilised by what Mino Raiola says? Come on, please. But I don’t talk about it any more. It makes life a little bit boring, but it is what it is.
“Whenever I tell my opinion, everyone in England goes berserk, and I am the worst agent, or the best agent…and the clubs get so stressed from the public and journalists that I have learned not to talk much about it.”
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