Jose Mourinho reveals when he expects Paul Pogba to make Manchester United return

Jose Mourinho has noted that Paul Pogba will be unavailable “for a few weeks” after the Frenchman limped out of Manchester United’s 3-0 win over FC Basel on Tuesday.

Pogba, handed the armband for the first time in his senior career, overstretched and immediately grasped the back of his left leg before eventually coming off.

The manager confirmed after the game that Man United’s ‘Player of the Month’ for August would be unavailable for Sunday’s clash with Everton in the Premier League.

And Mourinho, when pressed further on the severity of Pogba’s injury, speculated that he would be unavailable for a few weeks.

“I just know from experience it’s a muscular injury,” he said.

“In my experience, muscular injury stops you from playing for a few weeks, I think. Squads are for this, squads are for injuries, squads are for suspensions. We don’t cry with injuries.

“So if no Paul for Sunday, we have [Ander] Herrera, we have [Michael] Carrick, we have [Marouane] Fellaini and we have [Nemanja] Matic.”

The 24-year-old will undergo a scan to determine the exact nature of his injury, but Mourinho has witnessed enough of these afflictions to know – at least roughly – how long Pogba will be out for.

Losing the Frenchman at this stage of the season is painful. The early omens suggest he will miss the trip to Anfield and perhaps even back-to-back clashes with Benfica in the Champions League.

He was in effervescent form, dominating midfield battles and serving as the starting point of a diverse attacking set-up, but his absence, as Mourinho notes, is not the end of the world, with the likes of Marouane Fellaini, Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera andMichael Carrick all ready to step in and perform.