Jose Mourinho claims his high-profile fall-out with Paul Pogba was due the former Manchester United manager’s need to be a “club man”.
Mourinho insists he was putting the best interests of the club first when his relationship with Pogba reached rock-bottom earlier this season.
The Frenchman was stripped of the vice-captaincy by Mourinho and the duo were captured in a hostile stand-off on the training ground by television cameras.
Mourinho was irked by an Instagram post made by Pogba in the immediate aftermath of United’s Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Derby County.
As it turned out, Old Trafford’s WiFi was the reason for the post not uploading until after the full-time whistle as Pogba watched on from the stands.
Ultimately, Mourinho lost his job in December after overseeing United’s worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer succeeded the self-styled Special One, and the Red Devils have climbed back into the top four in an unbeaten domestic run since the Norwegian’s arrival.
But Mourinho insists he has no regrets over his tenure.
“If you tell me that in the past season that I had some problems … I don’t want to speak about [that] for obvious reasons,” he told beIN Sports.
“I will not deny to you that some factors had an influence in that the last period was not a good one. It’s impossible to win trophies without a good relationship with players.
“What you need sometimes is to accelerate some process, what you need to be is to be a club man and sometimes to be a club man you need to forget yourself a little bit.
“I think I always did it, sometimes for the good of the immediate needs of the club and group.
“I put myself in situations that in the eyes of people from the outside are not the best position, but I don’t regret that at all because I always give my all for the club.”
“It’s not possible to win trophies without a good relationship with the players,” he added.
“In Real Madrid I won trophies, in Chelsea I won trophies, a lot of them, three Premier League trophies, which is a lot in England.
“In Manchester United I won trophies too, it’s not possible to win trophies without good [player] relationships.”