Manchester United: Gary Neville urges Paul Pogba to knuckle down and fight harder

Manchester United legend Gary Neville believes that Paul Pogba is far from the first star player to find himself without a place in the Red Devils' starting XI and that the Frenchman should take it in his stride and try to prove manager Jose Mourinho wrong.

The former Juventus man was dropped from the starting line-up as United drew 0-0 with Sevilla in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie. The manager chose youngster Scott McTominay to marshal the midfield, which apparently did not go down too well with Pogba.

Mourinho's relationship with Pogba came under scrutiny after the two were seen having a heated touchline argument during United's 2-0 defeat at Tottenham last month. Pogba has subsequently failed to complete the full 90 minutes in his last four appearances for United amid a poor run of form and was ultimately left on the bench against Sevilla.

Mourinho is likely to recall Pogba to his starting line-up for United's crunch showdown with Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday (25 February) but has warned him that he has to put in an effort for the Portuguese manager to trust him.

The manager's sentiment is backed by Neville, who has played with some of the greatest players in the United era and believes that Pogba should do more to warrant a place.

"It's a tough one for Pogba to take because he's been left out of a big match, but I was at United for 20 years and saw players left out of matches sometimes – players who were probably better than Paul Pogba," Neville told Goal.

"He shouldn't take it as an offence, he should knuckle down as all great players and great characters do when they get dropped, to fight harder and make their way into the team.

"Over the last 10-15 years you think of Wayne Rooney who's been dropped, he was one of the greatest players United have had. Other players, Nemanja Vidic at times, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, myself, all players who have played 400, 500, 600 games for the club have been dropped.

"There's no given you're going to play in the team, everyone has to accept it's going to come to them and you're going to be dropped and that can be at different parts of your career."