Mourinho confirms Pogba to make Man Utd return Friday

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho confirmed on Thursday that record signing Paul Pogba will make his second debut for the club in Friday’s Premier League home game with Southampton.

Pogba, 23, returned to United from Juventus in a world-record 89 million pounds (105 million euros, $116 million) transfer last week, four years after leaving the club.

He has not played competitively since France’s defeat by Portugal in the final of Euro 2016 on July 10, but Mourinho says he is ready to return to action at Old Trafford.

“Yes, he is ready to play,” Mourinho told journalists at United’s Aon Training Complex in Carrington, west of Manchester.

“Ninety minutes, I don’t believe. Super performance, I don’t believe. But in conditions to accelerate his process of integration in the team, that’s for sure.

“Paul is training for more than a week, around 10, 11 days. The adaptation is really easy because he’s a boy from here.

“He knows the club, he knows everybody — (there is) no need of time to adapt. He needs time to build his condition and his understanding of the way the team plays or tries to play.”