Manchester United got their pre-season campaign off to a winning start as midfielder Paul Pogba made his first appearance since declaring that he is ready for “a new challenge”.
United beat Perth Glory 2-0 at the Optus Stadium but all eyes were on Pogba, who played the second 45 minutes as speculation continues that he will sign for either Real Madrid and Juventus before the 2019-20 season begins.
Marcus Rashford’s 60th-minute goal and a late James Garner strike settled matters in Western Australia, and overall Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have been more than happy with the intent of his side’s play regardless of how rarely they were able to break down Perth’s dogged defensive unit.
For Pogba, though, there was a mixed response from the Perth crowd – some cheering, some jeering – following his public pronouncement in June that he is ready to leave United, along with continued efforts by his agent Mino Raiola to prise the Frenchman away from Old Trafford.
Pogba was among 11 half-time substitutes as Solskjaer looked to give as many of his senior squad as possible the chance to stretch their legs. There was no sign of Romelu Lukaku, the subject of an official approach by Inter, but the United boss insisted that Lukaku, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly and Lee Grant all missed out through nothing more than “slight niggles”.
New signing Daniel James was an immediate positive, with his desire to run at opponents almost paying dividends in the first couple of minutes as he forged a yard of space and sent a teasing low ball in behind the Glory defence. Unfortunately for United there was nobody alert enough to react in the box and Diogo Dalot’s snap effort on the far edge of the box went high and wide.
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