MANCHESTER, Aug 11 — Fresh from inspiring France to win the World Cup, Paul Pogba is hungry to win more trophies for Manchester United after captaining the Red Devils to a winning Premier League start with a 2-1 victory over Leicester yesterday.

Thrown straight back into action after just returning to pre-season training on Monday, Pogba opened the scoring from the penalty spot after resisting Alexis Sanchez’s pleas to take the spot-kick.

"Winning the World Cup is in the past. I like challenges, I want to progress and win more trophies,” said Pogba.

"We don’t have a penalty taker, it’s how we feel and I decided to take it. Maybe on the next game I leave it to Alexis.”

United boss Jose Mourinho has predicted a difficult season ahead after not getting the backing he wanted from the club’s board in the transfer market.

Pogba himself was linked with a move to Barcelona after being routinely dropped by Mourinho last season.

But he is hopeful of building on a positive start and closing the gap on champions Manchester City after finishing 19 points behind their local rivals last season.

"We should start the Premier League with a win and we did,” he added. "The performance was OK, but we want (it) to go up.” — AFP