'Ibrahimovic and Pogba ignore everyone else at Manchester United'

Paul Merson says the behaviour of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba indicates Manchester United are not a team, and is sceptical they will even qualify for the Champions League.


The Old Trafford side reinforced heavily in the summer in order to get back in contention for silverware, with Pogba returning to the club for a world-record fee.

However, Jose Mourinho's men have flattered to deceive this season, the Portuguese picking up fewer points in seven Premier League games than his predecessor Louis van Gaal.

And former England winger Merson feels there is a division between United's mega signings and the rest of the squad while claiming Mourinho is unsatisfied with the quality of his players.

"Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba just seem to look for each other all the time and ignore everyone else.

"I’m not sure they are Champions League material. They should have blown Stoke away in the first 20 minutes last Sunday [a game that finished 1-1].

"But after that I’m not sure they looked like scoring. When Mourinho starts criticising his players in public he’s just showing his frustration.

"He knows they haven’t been good enough. Look what happened in the Europa League. The team he put out was just about the strongest he could.

"That told me he knows he might need the Europa League as a safety net. He’s never had to take it seriously before.

"But with a Champions League place for the winner and United not going well in the league they might need to take it seriously now.

"And Henrikh Mkhitaryan has hardly played. If he does, Rooney is not getting another kick.