Paul Pogba may yet require surgery on his hamstring injury.
Very little definitive information is out there on how long Manchester United fans can expect to be without their midfielder and, despite several media reports of a potential 12-week absence, manager Jose Mourinho maintains that they simply don’t know the time frame yet.
Mourinho said he had “no idea” when Pogba would return to action in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“No idea. But it’s a great opportunity for other players to play and I trust them all,” Mourinho said on the eve of United’s victory at Southampton.
“I’m not going to cry or be counting the days until Pogba comes back, not at all. When he comes back, welcome, but until then, I trust my people.”
The French midfielder suffered the injury during United’s Champions League group opener against Basel and, although almost two weeks have passed since then, still nobody is quite sure whether Pogba will require surgery.
Respected surgeon Dr Sakari Orava regularly operates on athletes’ muscle injuries and he worked with Barcelona’s stricken Ousmane Dembele, who picked up ruptured tendon shortly after signing for the Catalan club, last week.
Dr Orava has given his take on Pogba’s injury and while he insists that it’s possible for the 24-year-old’s hamstring to recover without going under the knife, surgery may still be on the cards for United’s record signing.
“His injury is a little different to Dembele because he can heal without surgery,” Dr Orava told Finnish outlet HS .
“A decision will be taken next week.
“This kind of problem is usually a sum of many coincidences and is affected by muscle fatigue as well as rapid stopping and quick turning, with the brain going quicker than the feet.”
