Jose Mourinho’s Adviser, Eladio Parames, has claimed that he was forced into signing Paul Pogba from Juventus.
Parames also said Manchester United bought Pogba because of his commercial value and clawed back the £89million fee in just six months.
The 69-year-old has known Mourinho since he was a child and was the Special One’s press officer when he was at Benfica.
In his weekly column for Portuguese paper ‘Record’, Parames — who describes himself as “the former spokesman for the best coach in the world but never his former friend”, claims United ignored his desire to bring a “terrier” midfielder.
He wrote: “It’s no coincidence that both have already been severely criticised by several coaches.
“Of course, some will ask whether the person who hired them did not know what their personalities were like.
“Yes is the answer, but sometimes there are reasons beyond sports that lead the clubs, and not always the coaches, to gamble on hiring them.
“Pogba, for example, is worth a lot in the advertising market, so much so that in just six months Manchester United had already recovered what they had invested in him.
“However, without ‘terriers’ like Matuidi and Kante at his side, he is worth virtually nothing on the field.
“Man United did not give Mourinho ‘terriers’ despite advice given to Woodward last summer.
“And as a result, we had to see Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay acting as central defenders against Southampton.
“And Mourinho had to watch as Pogba became the player who most often lost the ball and was dispossessed, in a single game, in all Premier League matches this season. A great record!”
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