Paul Pogba is ready to return to action for Manchester United against Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday after resuming training on Sunday.
Pogba reported for an 11am session just 24 hours after phoning in sick before United’s victory at Huddersfield.
His team-mates did not know Pogba was ill until they turned up at Carrington on Saturday morning, and then travelled to a hotel outside Huddersfield for a pre-match meal without him.
United took the unusual step of immediately announcing Pogba’s absence after manager Jose Mourinho had confirmed on Friday that he would play.
That followed speculation over Pogba’s future at Old Trafford after United’s record £89million signing was substituted in two of the previous three games and dropped to the bench for the other.
The Frenchman is now set to fly with the rest of the squad to Spain on Tuesday for the first leg of the last-16 tie against Sevilla, and Mourinho will hope that quells talk of a falling-out with the under-performing star.
Speaking after the FA Cup win at Huddersfield — which set up a quarter-final tie at home to Brighton — the United boss admitted that he did not know if Pogba would travel, but confirmed that Marcus Rashford, Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera could all be available again.
Eric Bailly also returned to action as a late substitute after more than three months out with an ankle injury.
‘Look, today I didn’t rest one single player so we had every player available here,’ said Mourinho, who named Ethan Hamilton and Angel Gomes on the bench even though both youngsters had played for the Under 23s against Chelsea on Friday night.
Hamilton only discovered that he had been promoted to the first-team squad to replace Pogba when he turned up for a recovery session at Carrington the next morning.
‘Can we recover some of them for Wednesday?’ added Mourinho. ‘I believe so. I think Rashford, Herrera, Valencia have a chance. Paul, I don’t know.
‘Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I don’t think they have any chance, so we arrive at this crucial moment with some problems.
‘But, you know, I think mentality is very important. And we have a strong team mentality. We know it is a very difficult match, but we go for it.’
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