Jose Mourinho mockingly calls Paul Pogba "His Excellency" for snubbing the team bus for a Rolls Royce

What's the story?

At a recent coaching forum in Portugal, Jose Mourinho revealed that Paul Pogba, who he referred to as "His Excellency", asked to travel back in his chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, rather than with the rest of the squad on the team bus. Whilst Mourinho doesn't name the individual this story revolves around, it's quite obvious that Pogba is the culprit.

In case you didn't know...

Jose Mourinho stripped Paul Pogba of his vice-captaincy back in September shortly after an incident took place following United's 2-0 win over Burnley. This was indeed to do with the incident that Mourinho went further into detail about at the coaching seminar.

Paul Pogba pictured in his Rolls Royce near to the time of the incident

The heart of the matter

Fundamentally, what Jose Mourinho was getting at with this thinly-veiled dig at Pogba was that player power in the modern age far outweighs that of anyone or anything at the club. He believed that he risked getting the sack if he failed to handle the situation with the £89m midfielder in the right fashion.

Here's what the three-time Premier League title winner had to say:

"We would play a team that was 30 kilometres from Manchester and a player asked me if after the game he could return to Manchester without the team and go on his own.

"I told him, 'If we went to London and you wanted to stay there, that would be one thing. But this is close, it doesn't make sense.'

"The guy was upset. But then we won the game and he asked me again. Because I was happy, I gave in a little and said, 'At least leave on the bus and ask your chauffeur to catch up with you 10 minutes from the stadium, then go as you wish.

"And this guy in the locker room still wasn't happy. I went to the press conference and when I arrived at the team bus, parked beside it was a Rolls Royce with his chauffeur.

"After all, the car was new and His Excellency would like to leave the stadium in his Rolls Royce. Now how do we deal with this? You [tell him] never go in the Rolls? You can go when I'm happy? Or you solve this sing in another way to get me 'on vacation'."

What next?

Jose Mourinho is reportedly keen on a return to club management in the near future and would like to get started before the new season begins. As for Paul Pogba, he recently assured Solskjaer during face-to-face talks that he's committed to the club, despite interest from Real Madrid.