Alan Brazil: Ole Gunner Solskjaer should stick Paul Pogba in a taxi with Romelu Lukaku

At first, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made being Manchester United boss look easy.

Now everyone can see the truth – that the Norwegian has an enormous task ahead.

What looked like being a summer of minor tweaks to his squad now looks like being one that will require a major rebuild.

But it must help that Ole now knows what his first job should be.

This time last week, whether or not to get rid of Paul Pogba was little more than a question worth pondering for Solskjaer.

Now I reckon getting the French World Cup winner out of the door is a necessity.

I’m sick of reading reports about how Pogba is unsettled at Old Trafford.

If he’s unsettled, you can bet your bottom dollar he’s unsettling the dressing room, too, because I doubt he’s keeping himself to himself in there.

So if I were Ole, I’d stick Pogba in a taxi myself and send him off to the airport.

In fact, I’d save some money for the club and stick Romelu Lukaku in there with him.

The Belgian striker hasn’t scored against any of the Premier League’s top clubs this season.

He has drawn a blank against Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Meanwhile, he’s giving interviews talking about wanting to play in Italy!

If he can’t compete with the best defenders in the Premier League, he ain’t good enough for United.

And if there’s an Italian club out there who’ll take him, I’d say they’re welcome to him.

Honestly, I’m trying my hardest not to put pressure on Ole here.

With United’s woes at the moment, I don’t want to keep picking on them.

But with Pogba in particular, it’s the same old story again and again and again.

For someone whose form has been patchy at best, the guy does an awful lot of talking about wanting to play for top clubs elsewhere.

On the evidence of this season, why would they want him in the first place?

Yet Real Madrid – and their manager, Zinedine Zidane – apparently do want him.

So why not get rid and use the bumper transfer fee Pogba would command to get stuck into the rebuild that looks increasingly necessary at Old Trafford?

If it doesn’t happen, I can see the fans losing patience.

I had a couple of United supporters on the radio on Thursday saying they’d had enough of the nonsense surrounding the club at the moment.

They said they weren’t renewing their season tickets.

If there were other fans swithering over their decisions, Friday morning’s papers must have made their minds up for them.

Talk of dressing room confrontations involving Pogba, talk of how the Frenchman is ripping the dressing room apart, talk – again – of how he wants to leave United for Spain.

I hear his agent, Mino Raiola, cancelled a behind the scenes meeting with United to discuss a potential new deal because his client is determined to leave.

It all sounds so toxic to me.

It must be threatening to destroy the feelgood factor that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seemed to have restored after he arrived.

But for me, the solution is simple.

Get anybody who doesn’t want to be at United – or isn’t good enough – kicked out on their backsides.

Because without everyone pulling in the same direction, the Red Devils will struggle to regain their place at the top of the English game – not next season but in the next decade.