21/08/2017 13:30, Report by Mark Froggatt

Anthony Martial believes his Manchester United team-mate Paul Pogba is “probably the best midfield player in the world”, who could become a Ballon d’Or winner within five years.

Martial made that claim while speaking to MUTV last month for an upcoming documentary about Pogba, who has since made an excellent start to the season by scoring two goals and setting up four others in the consecutive 4-0 Premier League wins over West Ham United and Swansea City.

The stage is certainly set for Pogba to enjoy a successful second season under Jose Mourinho's management, following a 2016/17 campaign that yielded 53 appearances, nine goals and three trophies. 

Martial feels his friend has all of the physical and mental attributes that are needed to become the world’s best player, as he told us: “Paul is very mentally strong and he is very sure of himself.

“He is a big guy, he is very technical on the ball and he has lots of endurance,” Martial continued. “I would say he is probably the best midfield player in the world. He is still young, too, so he has a lot to work on and he can get even better. As a person you can see he is always the same. He is funny, always smiling, he doesn’t take himself too seriously, I always see him laughing and he is a good friend of mine. He is the same person on and off the pitch, and he'll continue to be like this.”

At the age of 24, Pogba still has most of his professional career ahead of him Martial delivered a confident response when asked what his fellow Frenchman will have achieved in five years’ time.

“We want to win a lot of trophies together at United, and we also want to win the World Cup with France,” Anthony outlined. “If he continues to play and improve like he is doing then I think he is also going to win the Ballon d’Or award in the next five years.”

AND THE WINNER IS...UEFA will announce the winner of their 2016/17 Europa League Player of the Season award in Monaco on Friday, when the ceremony for the group stage draw of the competition - plus the Champions League - takes place. Pogba started every Europa League game in 2016/17 and scored the opening goal during the 2-0 win over AFC Ajax in the Stockholm final last May. That helped to earn him a nomination from a panel of judges that consisted of every manager who was involved in the group stage of the Europa League, plus journalists. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are also up for the prize.