Man United's Paul Pogba Pictured with Zinedine Zidane Amid Real Madrid Rumours

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba was photographed speaking to Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane in Dubai over the international break amid interest in him from the Spanish club. 

Per the Mirror's David McDonnell, the pair met by a pool in Dubai's Transform Altitude Performance Center, where Pogba had been training as part of his recovery from a foot injury:

Zidane refused to discuss the meeting when speaking to reporters ahead of Real Madrid's match against Mallorca, calling it "pure chance," via Omnisport (h/t Yahoo Sports).

"He was there and I was doing the talk and, as we know each other, we spoke. But it's personal—I'm not going to tell you what we talked about.

"We've known each other for a long time, we crossed paths, we stopped, and we talked.

"There are a lot of options, for every club [in January]. When we come to this date, the clubs will decide. We're going to play with 11 players tomorrow [Saturday, against Real Mallorca] and there will be players on the bench. We'll find a solution.

"We'll be able to sign players until the end of January, but what matters to me is the game [against Mallorca]. I'm not thinking about reinforcements. That's a long way off."

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was also asked about the picture in his press conference on Friday and was not fazed by it:

"Paul is part of our plan, he's been playing through the pain barriers and has been criticised left, right and centre. But when he came back Rochdale, Arsenal he wanted to play, try to get back, was too painful. He had that scan. He's on the way back, he's recovering, he's mending, He's been on a few days off working, but he's away from here, and it's a pic. When you're at Man United, I don't have any problem with that at all."

Zidane, who was in the city to speak at the Dubai Artificial Intelligence in Sports (DAIS) exhibition, wanted Real to recruit his compatriot in the summer, but Los Blancos' interest was turned down by United.

Rich Jones of the same outlet reported the meeting appeared to be "merely a coincidence," though. The meeting follows comments from Pogba earlier this year that it would be a "dream" to play for Real and work under Zidane.

The Frenchman also dropped a strong hint in the summer he was ready to leave Old Trafford, per The Athletic's Oliver Kay:

As for Zidane, he has been complimentary when asked about the 26-year-old:

Pogba has struggled somewhat to justify the then-world record £89 million fee that United paid to bring him back to Old Trafford from Juventus in 2016. Although his world-class talent has been clear to see at times, he has not been able to show it with as much consistency as United need.

Nevertheless, there's a strong case for him to be considered the Red Devils' best outfield player.

He particularly stands out in their midfield. United let Marouane Fellaini leave the club in January, while Ander Herrera joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in the summer, and neither has been replaced.

As such, Pogba is one of just four senior central-midfield options alongside Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic and Fred. Matic's lack of mobility is increasingly becoming a liability, while Fred has failed to convince since his £52 million arrival last year.

If Real do make further attempts to sign Pogba next year, United can ill afford to let him go. Even if they are able to negotiate an enormous fee for him to fund bringing in more midfield talent, it's far from guaranteed they would spend the money well given the club's hit-and-miss recruitment in recent years.

Keeping the FIFA World Cup winner should be a priority for the Red Devils.