His world record fee of £89million has put him in the same stellar bracket as the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.But Jose Mourinho has warned Manchester United fans not to expect similar Messi or Ronaldo-style goal-plundering exploits from Paul Pogba ahead of his full debut against Southampton on Friday night.France international Pogba left United for Juventus in 2012 but has returned to Old Trafford as the world’s most expensive player, with boss Mourinho hailing him as the best midfielder on the planet.But the Red Devils’ new manager cautioned against expecting too much from the 23-year-old, despite his record fee, insisting his impact will be more subtle than the heroics of Messi or Ronaldo – but no less significant.
‘Can Paul score Ronaldo and Messi’s goals?’ said Mourinho. ‘Not even 25 per cent, I believe. I believe he cannot score 20 goals in a season.‘So if to be the best player in the world means to score a lot of goals, that’s not the point. But he’s one of the best midfield players, maybe I could say the best midfield player, in the world.‘I’m not worried with an ‘impact’ and I don’t think he’s worried with that. I see him very calm, I see him very comfortable in this role of a star player and feeling very well under that skin.‘I don’t see him under pressure, I don’t see him in training trying to do things to show that he’s different, to show that he’s better.‘I think his impact will be something very natural, a progressive impact of contribution to improve the team, because that’s what he’s here for - to win trophies.‘I’m not expecting, the first time he touches the ball, to dribble past five guys and score a wonder goal. I expect the first time he touches the ball to make a correct pass, a good selection of passing, a good choice, a good simple execution and a fluid game.‘So, maybe it’s not an impact, maybe just a natural improvement of the team, because he’s a super football player.
‘When you speak about the best players in the world, you go immediately to the ones that score a lot of goals.‘You don’t give a golden ball [Ballon d’Or] to a goalkeeper. You gave it to [centre-back Fabio] Cannavaro once, because in that season he was the captain of Italy, the world champions.‘[Paolo] Maldini never got a gold ball. [Javier] Zanetti never got a gold ball. Top goalkeepers, over history, didn’t get a gold ball. You look immediately to the ones that score a lot of goals.’Pogba left Manchester after becoming frustrated at a lack of first-team opportunities, but Mourinho said there was no shame in having to fork out a world record fee to bring him back.‘If you lose a player, it doesn’t mean if you get a chance to recover him, you don’t recover him,’ said the Special One.‘Chelsea did the same mistake with Nemanja Matic and, a few years later, I pushed the club to do the deal.‘We did one mistake, why would we want to make the same mistake? So Paul is back and I think really happy to be back.‘I know Sir Alex tried everything to give him a new contract and I think [had he stayed] the natural evolution of things would be him becoming the player he is now. But the reality is he left.‘He went to a completely different football country, a different philosophy, and the experience was magnificent for him in preparing him to be the player he is.’