Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho insists Paul Pogba has made no attempt to demand a transfer.

Ahead of United's Saturday tea-time fixture at Watford, Mourinho spoke at length about Pogba's future and stressed the Frenchman had not told him he wants to leave United, despite the speculation.

"Paul came back after the World Cup the week before we started the Premier League," Mourinho explained. "We are together two months or so. He never told me he wants to leave. Never. He never told me he wants to leave.

"I can only comment on what is real for me, not in what I read, not on what I listen. I have no direct relation with the people that write or the people that listen. I have a direct relation with the players - not [just] Paul - the players. And he never told me he wants to leave.

"If he doesn't tell me he wants to leave, it's because he wants to stay. That's my conclusion, no?

"I don't know if that is true," Mourinho said when it was suggested Mino Raiola was trying to orchestrate a transfer. "I also need the agent to tell me or tell you in a way that I can see. For example, this week I read a few things Gareth Southgate supposedly told. Then I watched the footage and he didn't say at all what was written.

If I watch Mr Raiola on the screen saying the players wants to leave, and that he is organising a way for him to try to leave or so on, then I will believe. At this moment, I am in the dark. The only thing that is clear for me is that the player never - never in all these days we are together - he never told me that he wants to leave.

"Yes, but that was after Leicester," Mourinho added of Pogba's assertion that he would be 'fined' if he spoke frankly. "You have to ask him. As a manager, I tell you the truth. That's his problem, his relation with the media. I am not going to comment."