On Saturday, Paul Pogba made his first appearance of the weekend, on the cover of L’Equipe. The newspaper announced Pogba’s accession to the top of French sport’s rich list with the headline “Pogba prend le pouvoir” — Pogba takes power. Coming three days after José Mourinho had preferred Scott McTominay in Seville, it encapsulated the basic tension at the heart of 2018-issue Pogba: one day consigned to the bench, the next being measured for the throne. A player whose fame — through no fault of his own — is in orbit, while his football career has struggled, at times this season, to get out of cruising altitude.

Substituted off against Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United and left out of the XI for United’s first