Paul Pogba is expected to be fined by Manchester United for posting a ‘disrespectful’ photo on Instagram one hour after José Mourinho’s departure.
Mourinho was sacked yesterday morning (December 18) after months of speculation on whether the manager – who had served more than two years at the helm of United – should stay or go.
It’s no secret the former manager’s relationship with the French World Cup winner has been rocky at the best of times, with the two at loggerheads on more than one occasion.
And now their relationship has come under scrutiny once more, as Pogba’s recent Instagram post has been accused of celebrating the demise of Mourinho at Old Trafford.
In a post that has now been deleted by the 25-year-old midfielder, he wrote ‘caption this’ alongside a picture of him smiling.
He tagged Manchester United and Adidas Football in his caption, and despite it only being on his page for 10 minutes, it received 64K likes and attracted a lot of attention.
Including from Gary Neville, who has accused the footballer of ‘dancing on the grave’ of his ex-manager, as reported by the Independent.
And now the publication reports that Pogba’s football club are not happy with the incident and look set to fine him as the post was ‘disrespectful’ toward the man who guided United to a Europa League crown, and a return to Champions League football.
This is in spite of Adidas’ assurances that the post was a pre-scheduled advert that had been planned before news of the manager’s sacking broke, and which simply wasn’t deleted in time.
TV pundit Ian Wright also defended Pogba, saying the post was clearly sponsored and that now was not the time to put the blame on individuals.
Alongside a video of him speaking to the camera, Wright wrote the following caption:
Chill! That Paul Pogba tweet was obviously sponsored / automated. No way the player or Adidas want to risk their relationship with the club like that.
End of the road for Mourinho but not the time to try and blame individuals. Team must now get on with it and take the pressure that comes with today’s decision.
However, Gary Neville is not impressed with the midfielder and has told him to ‘do one’ on Twitter, in response to the post.
“ Caption This “
You do one as well !
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 18, 2018
The football coach appeared on Sky Sports’ The Debate and responded to the explanation that the post was sponsored.
He said, as reported by the Independent:
There is probably a high level of dislike there, but Jose Mourinho lost his job this morning and Paul Pogba and his people put that post out – don’t fall for this coincidence scheduled tweet nonsense, it’s garbage, absolute garbage.
I do believe that dancing on the grave of the manager who has just been sacked is out of order. Paul Pogba, there is no doubt, has fallen out with the manager. He doesn’t believe in him, he doesn’t like him, he doesn’t think he’s a good coach probably, and vice-versa.
Pogba hasn’t responded to Neville’s claims, but he did upload another Adidas picture to his Instagram not long after.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).