After a long summer featuring plenty of tension with the media, and far fewer signings than initially hoped for, Jose Mourinho must have been relieved when the first whistle of the Premier League was finally blown on Friday night.

A functional 2-1 win over Leicester City was enough to give the Portuguese the start he had been looking for.

All seemed rosy then, until a certain Paul Pogba re-ignited the murmurs around Old Trafford once more.

Pogba is the crown jewel at Manchester United – he spent his summer becoming a World Cup winner and remains the biggest asset in Mourinho’s arsenal.

Piercing through any sense of satisfaction on an opening day win, Pogba chose to use his post-comments to say, “If you’re not happy, you cannot give your best”.

Cryptically, Pogba followed up with “There are things that I cannot say otherwise I will get fined”.

The latter comment was perceived as a sign that all was not well in the relationship between player and manager.

Now, reports have emerged giving an insight into Mourinho’s thoughts after a relatively shocking outburst from such a key player.

According to the Telegraph, Mourinho was left “bemused” by Pogba’s comments, feeling that they were “out of the blue”, and that the midfielder should have spoken to him privately rather than in the press.

The two had exchanged tense comments in the media over the summer – primarily with Mourinho urging Pogba to replicate his World Cup form in Manchester.

Despite this, the reports claim that during training for the Leicester game Mourinho had been in the belief that the relationship was on solid ground.

The Frenchman’s comments show that this isn’t the case, and Mourinho is said to blame the strain on Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola.

Barcelona have been linked to Pogba, but it remains to be seen if they have the resources to prize away a player that United will be desperate to keep.