” data-script=”https://static.lefigaro.fr/widget-video/short-ttl/video/index.js” >
The Juventus international tricolor tested positive after a match against Udinese on August 20, during the first day of Serie A.
“I had a difficult year, so I have this rage, this desire to play football and enjoy it until the end of my career. It’s like I’m 18 again», says Paul Pogba, in an interview broadcast this Monday by the Qatari channel Al Jazeera. A year marked by injuries and this extortion affair in which one of his brothers, Mathias, is involved. “Football is cruel, people can forget you the next day. They’re waiting for you on the corner: “He’s finished, his career is over.” Many think that I’m done for, that I’m dead, that Pogba no longer exists, that I’m no longer one of the best, that I’m not even a good player anymore, that I’m still injured…», added the 30-year-old world champion, ensuring that he was not “weak“.
He will once again have the opportunity to show his strength of character with this new test: as reported by several Italian sources, traces of synthetic testosterone were discovered after an anti-doping test carried out after Udinese-Juventus (0-3), on August 20, during the first day of the Italian championship. A match in which the former Torcy, Le Havre and Manchester United midfielder, replacing at kick-off, did not come into play with the Turin club. The Italian Anti-Doping Agency (Nado) has decided to provisionally suspend Pogba for “violation of sections 2.1 and 2.2 for the presence of the following prohibited substances: testosterone metabolites“.
Victim of several physical problems in recent years, the French international (91 caps, 11 goals) is coming out of an almost blank season (10 matches) in 2022-23, for his return to Piedmont after six years with the Red Devils. After the match against Udine, Pogba played 24 minutes against Bologna (1-1) and 28 against Empoli (2-0), getting injured again. “The examinations carried out showed a slight muscular overload in the right thigh.“Said Juve, ruling out the hypothesis of a tear. But that’s the last of the problems for Pogba now…
Four years of suspension?
Shortly after 8 p.m., Juventus published a brief press release to acknowledge the news, the club adding that it “reserves the right to evaluate the next procedural steps“. One thing is certain: if the B sample also turns out to be positive and Pogba is not able to demonstrate that the product found in his urine was inadvertently ingested, the native of Lagny-sur-Marne risks four years. suspension. Which would clearly jeopardize the end of a career which is turning into a nightmare for one of the captains of France, world champion in 2018, from whom Juve would have liked to part ways this summer in the transfer window according to multiple sources, a year after repatriating him from Manchester without a transfer fee. His salary weighs heavily in the accounts of Juventus. Especially for a player who is more often in the infirmary than on the pitch… Not to mention the extra-sporting issues which are ruining the lives of Pogba and his family, with this dark affair of attempted extortion by an organized gang.
Alas, the Frenchman, under contract until 2026 in Piedmont, where he enjoys the highest salary in the squad, did not find a buyer. In any case, not under the conditions expected by the club with 36 Italian championship titles… “I believe in him and his ability to get back to his best, but it won’t happen by snapping his fingers.», said Didier Deschamps recently, explaining the non-selection of Paul Pogba for the September rally and the matches against Ireland last Thursday (2-0), at the Parc des Princes, and Germany this Tuesday in Dortmund in friendly (9 p.m.). Forced to leave him out for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, “DDhasn’t called him since last March. Starting against Ivory Coast (2-1) on March 24, Pogba came on against South Africa (5-0) four days later, delivering a decisive pass along the way. The future will tell if this is his last offering in the blue jersey…
“There were times when I found myself alone and I was like, “I don’t want to have any more money, I don’t want to play anymore, I just want to be with normal people, who love me for who I am, not for fame or money”. Sometimes it’s hard“, told Paul Pogba again to Al Jazeera, evoking this annus horribilis that he has just experienced. And to add: “Allah helped me, I realized this was my life, I had to take it like this and it was only going to make me stronger“. It remains to be seen how Paul Pogba will experience this new ordeal.