Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has found a settled Man United midfield and Paul Pogba is nowhere to be seen

There’s been a consistent theme on Paul Pogba‘s social media channels in recent weeks.

Pogba stretches out his legs, Pogba performs pull-ups, Pogba lifts weights, Pogba jogs on state-of-the-art anti-gravity treadmill while admiring Dubai skyline.

It’s #Pogback 2.0 as the Manchester United midfielder speeds up his recovery from the ankle injury that has kept him sidelined for much of the season.

The official line from United and their manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is that the Frenchman is ‘desperate’ to get back on the pitch.

‘Paul has had a terrible season with injuries and he is desperate to play football,’ Solskjaer said at the end of last month.

‘If there’s one thing I know about Paul it’s that he loves playing football and training, and it’s been playing on his mind. I see a boy who is fed up with being injured.’

That’s all well and good but even if Pogba is available again before the end of the season, he is far from guaranteed a place in United’s starting line-up.

Pogba will no doubt assume he will simply waltz straight back into United’s midfield, as though he’s never been away, and get a bit of momentum ahead of Euro 2020 with France.

But unfortunately for him, United and Solskjaer have moved on in his absence. They compensated for his absence and are coping without him, if not exactly thriving.

Monday night’s impressive performance in winning 2-0 at Chelsea, lifting United within three points of the Blues in fourth place, was further evidence that they’re doing fine without the £89million man.

The energy shown by Fred and Nemanja Matic at Stamford Bridge won the midfield battle in United’s favour, laying the groundwork for a necessary victory to keep their Champions League aspirations alive.

Fred has just about shaken off the laughing stock status that followed him for so long following his £52m move from Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Brazilian is showing the benefits of regular Premier League football – he has started 18 league games this season – and looks more at home in the United midfield with every passing week.

He may lack the creativity of Pogba in full flow but he certainly offers more energy, not giving the Chelsea midfield a moment’s peace, while there have been improvements in his passing and distribution.

Yes, Fred does lack the physicality for some midfield battles but there’s no doubt he is more influential for United that he was three or four months ago.

And he was remarkably candid when he gave an interview during the winter break saying that United’s squad ‘lacks the sticking together mentality’ and that ‘we have lots of problems.’

Even though Solskjaer tried to play down the comments, Fred was undeniably correct and it was refreshing to see a top level player also call out the ‘vanity’ of some of his team-mates.

You imagine Fred might have had Pogba at the forefront of his mind when he said that and it’s becoming more and more obvious who will be in the United team for longer.

Matic was deployed to give United’s three-man defence additional protection on Monday night and largely succeeded on his return to Stamford Bridge.

He has been working pretty well with Fred in recent weeks having recovered from early season injury issues of his own but this was a stand-out performance.

At 31, you imagine Matic won’t be at United for too much longer but it’s reassuring for Solskjaer that he can do a job in the absence of Pogba and Scott McTominay.

Solskjaer said this week that McTominay isn’t too far away from a comeback from his knee injury and the Scot played a full part in training during United’s visit to Marbella.

His return will be a huge boost for United with the 21-year-old already a mainstay of the midfield, ahead of everyone else in the pecking order.

You’d say that McTominay will partner Fred again once he regains full fitness, with Matic as cover.

New boy Bruno Fernandes – who grew in influence against Chelsea, struck the post with a free-kick and curled in the corner for Harry Maguire to head the second goal – offers an alternative as well.

It’s clear even from his two appearances so far that Fernandes can offer United a quality of set-piece delivery they’ve missed for years, as well as influence and aggression. You would expect this for £68m, mind you.

So where does that leave Pogba? On the bench, most likely, as he was in the weird comeback cameo between his two injury absences over Christmas when he featured briefly against Watford and Newcastle.

Why would Solskjaer tear up the midfield plans that have served him for much of the season just to accommodate a returning player who will most likely jump ship this summer?

The latest spat between Solskjaer and Pogba’s agent, Mino Raiola, only serves to remind United of the agitation they can expect this summer when Pogba tries to wriggle out of the final year of his contract to join Juventus or Real Madrid.

Solskjaer is surely not even remotely bothered. He’s been made to look like a fool all season by a player supposedly nursing an injured ankle who simultaneously plays basketball with NBA stars and dances at his brother’s wedding.

The comments about Pogba being ‘desperate’ to get back to United toe the party line but Solskjaer’s team are in a much-needed process of renewal and refresh.

Pogba won’t be part of this process and United’s midfield is clearly moving on without him.