PAUL POGBA has been stepping up his bid to regain fitness by staying behind after Manchester United training to do personal 30-minute sessions with Michael Carrick.
The World Cup-winning midfielder has played just seven Premier League games this season and has been out of action since Boxing Day with an ankle problem.
However the unprecedented decision to suspend all top-flight matches until April has given the Frenchman a better chance of being available whenever United next play.
And according to The Athletic, Pogba has been putting in “real graft” with first-team coach Carrick away from the main group of players.
The former teammates have undergone ball work in the hope that staff can optimise the £89million star’s mobility in his troublesome ankle as well as sharpen his fitness.
The report adds that his latest injury has yet to be tested with full contact while Pogba remains understandably rusty ahead of his return to training on Tuesday.
The former Juventus ace would have likely rejoined the rest of the group already had it not been for United’s 5-0 win over LASK in Austria in the Europa League last-16 first leg last week.
His long-awaited return comes following reports that Pogba is considering a massive U-turn over his Old Trafford future because he believes he can form a deadly duo with Player of the Month winner Bruno Fernandes.
The France superstar enters the final two years of his contract this summer and was expected to leave amid months of transfer speculation linking him to Real Madrid and former club Juve.
Yet rumours of his stay in Manchester were recently fuelled by boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who insisted that Pogba would be a United player for years to come.
The Norwegian: “Paul is our player and has got two years left on his contract.
“There is also the option of another year so you can expect Paul to be here.”
