“Pogba Never Man Utd's Vice-captain”

Jose Mourinho has claimed that Paul Pogba “was not the vice-captain” of Manchester United, having previously stated that the midfielder would “not be the second captain anymore”.

The France international was handed the armband at the start of the 2018-19 campaign on the back of his World Cup-winning exploits.

It was suggested that added responsibility had been passed his way as those inside Old Trafford attempted to quieten talk of internal rifts.

Mourinho told reporters when quizzed on the matter again prior to a Premier League clash with West Ham: "Paul was not the vice-captain.

"We had Valencia as the captain and then we had a group of players that could be the vice captain - one day I gave it to David de Gea, I gave it to Ashley Young, to Chris Smalling.

"I first thought about Paul last season, because [he is] a player of a different generation, younger player, the captain of the future.

"Because Valencia, Young, they are more or less the same age, the same generation. But he [Pogba] was not the vice-captain, so now we don't have the vice-captain.

"Now it depends on the match, and depends on if Valencia is playing or not.

"If Valencia is playing, Valencia is the captain. If he is not playing, I will try and go in another direction."