World class Pogba can do pretty much anything - McTominay

Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay says teammate Paul Pogba is a “world class” player who can do “pretty much anything”.

The 22-year-old formed an eye-catching partnership with the Frenchman in the middle of the park during their pre-season friendlies as they toured the likes of Australia, Singapore and China.

The duo then cemented their understanding in the 4-0 demolition of Chelsea on the opening weekend of the Premier League season – a game that saw Pogba enjoy an unrestricted role and produce two assists.

That freedom, in part, was thanks to McTominay’s discipline, with the Scotland international occupying in a deep-lying positon that handed his World Cup-winning counterpart further creative license.

Ahead of their next league fixture away at Wolves on Monday, the Lancaster-born star, who has been associated with United since joining as a junior in 2002, is now looking to develop their early promise as a pairing.

And he’s more than happy to keep things tight in front of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s defence if it means Pogba can produce the goods further up the pitch as the season progresses.

“When you play with Paul, he likes to get in the box,” he told the club’s official website , “and your job is to make sure that we are secure at the back and we’re locked in in different areas of the pitch. 

“Obviously you have to remember and respect the fact that Paul is a world class player who can pretty much do anything on a football pitch. 

“You have to adapt to what he does as well and the different runs that he might make, and obviously adapt your game off that. If you are playing with someone else, you have to change that as well. 

“If you’re playing with Nemanja (Matic), Fred and Andreas (Pereira) in different positions like that, it’s always different with who you are playing with.”

McTominay also cited the club’s pre-season programme as time well spent in terms of the pair’s partnership.

“You have to have a relationship with the player you’re playing with,” he added, “and we did have a good relationship on tour throughout the games that we were playing when we were away. 

“Obviously it’s about building that up and keep the relationship between each other, to know what each other does and keep adapting to the circumstances. I think we handled it quite well.”