Manchester United star Paul Pogba reveals he has struggled with depression

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba revelaed he has experienced depression “several times” in his career and first had issues during Jose Mourinho’s reign at Old Trafford.

The France international endured a difficult relationship with Mourinho and was stripped of United’s vice-captaincy in September 2018 before the Portuguese was sacked three months later.

He believes it is difficult for professional footballers to speak openly about mental health problems, stressing that receiving a high salary does not make players immune.

“Completely, and several times during my career,” replied Pogba, when asked if he had experienced depression, in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro.

“I have been through it, but we don’t talk about it. Sometimes you don’t even know you have depression, you just want to be isolated, to be all alone, these are the unmistakable signs.

“From a personal perspective, that started when I was with Jose Mourinho at Manchester.

“You ask yourself if there is something wrong with you, because you have never experienced these moments in your life.

“Of course we earn a lot of money and we don’t complain, really. But that does not prevent you from going through these moments in your life – like the whole world – which are more difficult than others.

“In football it is not acceptable but we are not superheroes, we are only human beings.”

Former Arsenal and France forward Thierry Henry recently expressed his view that there is insufficient discussion about the mental health of players.

World Cup winner Pogba concurred with Henry and used international team-mate Kylian Mbappe – whose penalty shoot-out miss led to France’s Euro 2020 exit against Switzerland – as an example.

“I agree entirely with Titi