Pogba given captaincy by Jose Mourinho, who Sky Sports News understands retains full backing of United's board
Tuesday 21 August 2018 17:32, UK
Paul Pogba's agent has hit back at Paul Scholes over his criticism of the Manchester United midfielder.
Mino Raiola took to social media after Scholes questioned whether Pogba is the right choice as United captain following Sunday's 3-2 defeat at Brighton.
Sky Sports News understands Jose Mourinho - who has made Pogba captain in the absence of Antonio Valencia - retains the full backing of the board despite their defeat at Brighton.
But Scholes, who won 11 Premier League titles during a 20-year playing career at Old Trafford, was scathing about Pogba's performance.
"There's a lack of leaders in the team, that's why we thought Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn't there [on Sunday]. He had another really poor game. He's so inconsistent," Scholes told Optus Sport.
Raiola, who helped Pogba secure a return to Old Trafford from Juventus in 2016, responded by tweeting: "Some people need to talk for fear of being forgotten.
"Paul Scholes wouldn't recognise a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill.
"Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba. Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club."
Pogba was critical of his own performance against Brighton, saying "my attitude wasn't right enough".
"Myself first, should have done much better, less mistakes, control more the game," said the World Cup winner.
"This was a bad performance for all of us. It's wrong we dropped points.
"You have to wake up for the next game and definitely not play like we did [against Brighton]."
United's next game is against Tottenham on Monday, live on Sky Sports Premier League.