Paul Pogba Suspended For Manchester United Opener

The Football Association has revealed Paul Pogba is suspended for Manchester United’s opening Premier League game of the season against Bournemouth on Sunday.

The midfielder joined United from Juventus for £89m in the early hours of Tuesday morning and there had been speculation he could make his debut against the Cherries despite taking a holiday in the United States following France’s Euro 2016 final defeat to Portugal and only starting pre-season training this week.

However, his name has appeared on a list of four players tweeted out by the FA as suspended for this weekend’s fixtures, including his United team-mate Chris Smalling.

The ban relates to two yellow cards issued in last season’s Coppa Italia. The second card came in the final, which was his last game for Juventus.

Pogba’s United debut is now likely to be against Southampton at Old Trafford next Friday.

United manager Jose Mourinho admitted he learned of Pogba’s suspension on Wednesday and had been waiting for the decision as he knew about the yellow cards but was not sure if the ban would carry over to the Premier League.

Speaking at his press conference on Friday lunchtime ahead of the trip to the Vitality Stadium, Mourinho said: “I don’t speak about him [Pogba]. He is suspended. I don’t speak about the ones that are not ready to play, so I forget Paul for a few days. Tuesday he will be ready to play against Southampton.

“I knew the situation with the yellow cards. But I didn’t know at that time if an accumulation of yellows would bring a player to suspension, or that one in Italian football would be one for the corresponding competition in England which would be an FA Cup match. I found out two days ago.”

Pogba’s suspension relates to Article 12 of FIFA’s Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players and other recent examples are Xherdan Shaqiri being suspended for one game following his move to Stoke from Italy last year and Joey Barton serving the remaining games of a ban after his loan switch to Marseille in QPR in 2012.

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