Nemanja Matic names the two Man United players who angered squad by being late

Nemanja Matic has revealed two Manchester United players angered the rest of the squad by turning up late.

Matic made 189 appearances for the Red Devils after signing in a £40 million move from Chelsea back in 2017.

The Serbian linked up with Jose Mourinho for a second time and later worked under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick before leaving on a free at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

He ended up being coached by Mourinho yet again at Roma and now finds himself playing in Ligue One with Rennes.

However, the former Benfica man has been talking about his time at United and how poor some of his teammates were at timekeeping.

According to Matic, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba were two of the worst culprits - much to the annoyance of the other players who were on time.

In response, Matic headed up an internal disciplinary committee ensured that those were late received adequate punishment.

Image: Getty

At one point, the pot from fines totalled £75,000 and was supposed to go on a big night out that never happened.

"At Chelsea, players acted professionally, they were punctual and were never late for training but at United it happened almost every day," Matic told YuPlanet.

"Among the players who would always be late were Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho and couple of other players.

"The rest of us who were always on time were angry so we decided to form a kind of an internal disciplinary committee with me serving as its president.

"I put a sheet of paper up on the wall where I documented the names of individuals arriving late. During one particular season we collected around £75,000 in fines.

"We had planned to use the money to throw a party in London but we didn’t due to the Covid outbreak."

Image: Getty

Sancho's lateness proved to be a problem for Erik ten Hag, who made him arrive on time for training by setting his schedule at least one hour earlier than the rest of the squad.

The former Borussia Dortmund winger remains exiled after speaking out against his manager and looks set to move on in January.

Topics: Nemanja Matic, Manchester United, Jadon Sancho, Paul Pogba

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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