Paul Pogba has said he only learned he had suffered a bone fracture in his foot after playing through pain “for a long time” at the start of this season.

The Manchester United midfielder had made only eight appearances for his club before the suspension of the Premier League, and had surgery to fix the problem in January.

Speaking to United’s podcast, Pogba said he had never previously experienced an injury like this as he spoke of his “hunger” to return to action.

“I don’t know if people really know what happened,” he said. “So I had a foot injury, which came in the game against Southampton [on August 31].

“It was early this season and so I carried this for a long time, training and trying to be playing with it. After I stopped, I found I had a fracture.”

After featuring in a draw against Arsenal on September 30, Pogba did not appear for his club again until he played twice in four days, against Watford and Newcastle United, during the busy festive period in December.

“I had a cast on it, a plaster cast, so it went very well but too well,” he said. “The bone got bigger and so, when I came back again, I played those two games against Watford and Newcastle, I could feel something again.

“So I had to have an operation and now here I am. I don’t feel anything and hopefully I will be back very soon.

“I am almost there. I am just thinking about training with the team. You think bad but I've never had something like this in my career, so I always take it in a good way.

"It makes me more hungry to come back and do well, and it just shows me how much I love football."