Paul Pogba deserved to be dropped by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, according to the club’s former defender Mikael Silvestre.

Pogba was left on the bench for last month’s Champions League game at Sevilla, with Scott McTominay preferred, although the French international came on as a first-half substitute due to Ander Herrera’s injury.

Mourinho has criticised Pogba’s form, with the midfielder struggling in Premier League defeats at Tottenham and Newcastle United, while the 24-year-old made little impact in Monday’s comeback win at Crystal Palace.

Silvestre, who played for United between 1999 and 2008, thinks Mourinho made the right decision in leaving former Juventus midfielder Pogba, who was signed for €105-million in August 2016, out of his team.

‘Because of the transfer price tag and where he’s been before, coming from Juve, we’ve expected him to be the talisman, to be ‘Mr 100 Percent’, to be fit all the time and to win games for United,’ Silvestre told Sports Tonight on Dubai Eye 103.8.

‘On some occasions he’s failed, he’s failed [to meet] the expectations. That’s why there’s a question mark and that’s why he was put aside by Jose Mourinho. I think that was very smart from Jose, especially the way he’s handled it.

‘You know it’s clear that Paul hasn’t played well for us and that’s why he’s not starting the games and that’s the end of story. At least everybody knows the reason why, it’s clear.

‘There is no misunderstanding, there is no “maybe Pogba is finished with United”, that wasn’t the case. He was just not performing at the level everybody is expecting.’

Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola has denied there is a rift between Mourinho and his client, who has been linked with a move to Real Madrid at the end of the season.