Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho says he hopes Paul Pogba replicates his fantastic World Cup form at Old Trafford next season.

The Frenchman was one of the best players at the tournament this summer, and was a star performer for France starting all but one game as they were victorious.

Pogba struggled to stay consistent last season, and was often dropped by Jose Mourinho. There have been rumours all summer that the 25-year-old could be set to leave the club and return to Juventus, but Mourinho has hinted that he will stay.

Mourinho was full of praise for Pogba’s World Cup performances, and hopes the midfielder ‘understands why’ he played at the level he did.

“I don’t think it’s about us getting the best out of him, it’s about him giving the best he has to give,” Mourinho told ESPN FC.

“I think the World Cup is the perfect habitat for a player like him to give [their] best.”

“Why? Because it’s closed for a month, where he can only think about football. Where he’s with his team on the training camp, completely isolated from the external world, where they focus just on football, where the dimensions of the game can only motivate.

“During a season, you can have a big match then a smaller match, then one even smaller, then you can lose your focus, you can lose your concentration, then comes a big match again.

“In the World Cup, the direction of the emotion, of the responsibility, of the big decisions is always growing up.

“You are in the group phase, you go to the last 16, to the quarter-finals, to the semi-finals, to the finals. This feeds the motivation. This feeds the concentration of a player.

“So I think it was the perfect environment for him.”

Pogba is currently away and won’t join up with the squad for at least a week, it is unlikely he will play in the opening game of the season.