Pogba could miss rest of league term while mourning father's death

Jose Mourinho will give Paul Pogba the time he needs to mourn the death of his father, Fassou Antoine, last Friday after a long-term illness.

The France international sat out Manchester United's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, and is expected to do so again when his side travels to Southampton on Wednesday. He could also miss Sunday's final match of the Premier League season against Crystal Palace, before being drafted back into the squad for the meeting with Ajax in the Europa League final on May 24.

"I don't think so," Mourinho replied when asked if Pogba would face Southampton, according to The Telegraph's James Ducker. "I think that his dad's funeral has to be between Tuesday and Wednesday in France. I don't think that Paul has the conditions to play. We have left him completely free to be back when he thinks he's ready."

Mourinho has made no secret of how he's not taking the rest of the domestic campaign seriously after a top-four spot drifted out of reach. The Portuguese's last opportunity to ensure United competes in the Champions League next season is by winning its sister competition's showpiece against a youthful and exciting Ajax side, and he's already resting players for the occasion.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

With the final set for at least a week after the funeral of Pogba's father, the world's most expensive player will be widely expected to line up in Stockholm.

Sergio Romero, who has been United's cup goalkeeper this term, is going to be given match practice in either the Southampton or Palace tilt ahead of the final, Daley Blind won't feature at all in the former, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ander Herrera, and Antonio Valencia will be used sparingly.

Mourinho is still irksome about his side's busy fixture list this season, and thanked referee Michael Oliver for sending off Herrera in March's FA Cup quarter-final with Chelsea. The Portuguese said it helped halt a cup run that could have resulted in a backlog of matches that would be impossible to schedule.

"I never, ever have had a situation like this and on top of that (there has been) the accumulation of big injuries, not small, not the injuries that you say, 'OK, hamstring, two weeks.' No, it's surgery, boom, boom. It's surgery - one knee, another knee, another foot, just big surgeries. So fewer and fewer and fewer players," he said. "It's very difficult, really very difficult. But we are there and we go to the final."