Paul Pogba sees light at the end of the tunnel and a chance to play again – but where?
“Finally the nightmare is over,” Paul Pogba declared on Friday evening, grateful and relieved to see a ray of light at the end of the dark tunnel in which he had felt trapped for so long.
Seven months after being handed a four-year ban for a doping violation, Pogba heard from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that he had partially succeeded on appeal. His ban has been reduced to 18 months, raising the prospect of a return to action in March 2025.
But where? It’s a long way back to the stages he once graced as the most expensive player in world football – and at the moment there seems little prospect of reintegration at Juventus, whose coach Thiago Motta could hardly have sounded less interested in facilitating a Pogba redemption. story.
Juventus were expected to terminate the French midfielder’s contract if the original four-year ban by CAS was upheld. Friday’s ruling leaves Juventus waiting for CAS to publish the reasons for their decision, possibly as early as Monday. Talks with Pogba and his agent Rafaela Pimenta will follow, but a reconciliation is unlikely to be at the top of the Italian club’s agenda.
However, Pogba is said to have been euphoric when the appeal ruling was handed down on Friday. Not only could he start thinking about the comeback path, but CAS had accepted the explanation of the player and his legal team: that, rather than being a “drug fraudster”, he had in good faith taken a nutritional supplement that, unknown to it contained the banned substance Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).
His appeal was led by sports lawyer Mike Morgan, who has successfully represented former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury and six-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome in doping cases.
Pogba’s name hasn’t been cleared yet; he acknowledged in Friday’s statement that he was guilty of a “strict liability violation.” But what has been cleared up, at least to some extent, is a comeback track.
Pogba playing for Juve against Empoli in September 2023 (Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Had he been suspended after his 34th birthday in March 2027, his career could have effectively ended. The prospect of returning to the training field in January and playing again from March 11 – wherever that may be – changes the picture considerably.
“This has been a hugely upsetting time in my life as everything I have worked so hard for has been put on hold,” Pogba said in the statement on Friday.
It’s still on hold. But it is no longer completely at a standstill.
At a press conference to preview his team’s match against Cagliari, Juventus coach Motta responded to questions about Pogba by saying the club would evaluate what to do.
Somewhat emphatically, it seemed, he added that the midfielder “has been a great player” – has been – but someone who “hasn’t played for a long time”.
Pogba’s last league match was almost seventeen months ago. Since rejoining Juventus amid much fanfare in the summer of 2022 on a deal initially worth €500,000 per week (£420,000, $550,000), he has started just one game due to a) persistent injury problems, b) a struggle to regain fitness and form and c) the ban that, initially on a provisional basis, came into effect in September 2023.
But the ‘nightmare’ Pogba spoke of has been going on for years, dating back to his unhappy time at Manchester United.
Pogba and Lilian Thuram watch France in Dusseldorf during Euro 2024 (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
During his hearing in Lausanne on August 30, he told CAS that it was an act of desperation to put his injury problems behind him, which led him in good faith to take a nutritional supplement containing DHEA.
His defense focused on a trip to the United States in November 2022 – during the World Cup in Qatar, which he missed with a knee injury.
During that trip, he visited a wellness clinic in hopes of finding out why he suffered so many injuries and what action he could take to prevent them in the future.
A series of blood and biometric tests revealed several problems, including a deficiency of vitamin D. Pogba says the doctor at the clinic, who claimed to have worked with numerous athletes in American sports, prescribed a course of tablets to correct his tackle vitamin D deficiency.
Pogba thought little of it until August 2023, when Italy’s National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) selected him for a drugs test after Juventus’ opening match of the Serie A campaign away to Udinese, for which he was an unused substitute.
His test came back positive, as did a “B” sample, with NADO stating that his sample contained “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites” and that the results were “consistent with the exogenous origin of the target compounds.”
He was immediately given a provisional suspension, which was extended to four years by the NADO last February.
From the very beginning, Pogba told Juventus that he had been taking nutritional supplements without knowing it was putting him at risk of a doping violation. He admitted that he had been wrong to do so without the club’s knowledge and consent.
His claim at both the original NADO hearing and the appeal to CAS was that he never sought a performance-enhancing benefit. His legal team argued that while studies have shown that DHEA provides potential performance-enhancing benefits to female athletes, there was little evidence of such a benefit for men.
Sympathy among the Juventus hierarchy was understandably in short supply. There was already dissatisfaction about his struggle to regain match fitness in his first season. Taking nutritional supplements without the club’s knowledge was considered extremely irresponsible.
The possibility of terminating his contract immediately was discussed, but was not possible while he awaited the outcome of his appeal to CAS. Instead, he had to train outside the club’s facilities, while his salary was reduced to €2,000 per month, under the terms of an agreement between Italian clubs and the Italian Professional Footballers’ Association (AIC).
Pogba watches Juventus take on Empoli in September 2023 (Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The next step is unclear, but there is little indication that Juventus are keen to welcome him back to the team, let alone on a full-pay basis. At the start of this season, his number 10 shirt was awarded to 19-year-old Turkish international Kenan Yildiz.
Reports have suggested several alternative destinations, including Major League Soccer and the Saudi Pro League, but sources close to Pogba, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said it was far too early to predict anything else last weekend then the need for clarification of Juventus’ plans.
GO DEEPER
Paul Pogba: Is this the end?
As positive as Friday’s verdict undoubtedly was, it seems a long way back to the kind of status Pogba enjoyed as one of the world’s most talented and celebrated footballers.
During his six years at United there was often a significant gap between Pogba’s immense talent and his achievements – and certainly between his achievements and his global reputation – but at his best he is (or, to use Motta’s words, has been) a beautiful player.
On Saturday, he posted an Instagram story showing some of his greatest moments with Juventus, United and the French national team during their 2018 World Cup-winning campaign.
It was quite a showreel, a reminder of a talent that has flickered only sporadically in recent years – and hardly even that for the past three seasons, dating back to his miserable final year in Manchester.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro in 2022Pogba said he had felt depressed during several spells at United. “Of course we make a lot of money and we don’t really complain, but that doesn’t stop you – like the whole world – from going through moments in your life that are harder than others,” he said. “That is not acceptable in football.
“But we are not superheroes. We are only human.”
Pogba’s personal problems worsened in 2022 when he was the subject of an alleged extortion scheme that led to the arrest of five people, including his brother Matthias, who was subsequently released.
In recorded an interview with Al Jazeera before news of the positive test emergedPogba said: ‘Money changes people. It can tear a family apart. It could cause a war. Sometimes I just thought, ‘I don’t want to have any more money. I just don’t want to play anymore. ”
Such feelings of resignation would have come more easily when the opportunity to play was not there – and when the prospect of a comeback seemed so remote.
But whether it is at Juventus or, more likely, elsewhere, Pogba now sees a way back. He felt energized not only by the CAS ruling, but also by the support he has received both publicly and privately.
The reaction from Kylian Mbappe and others on Pogba’s Instagram page on Friday was testament to the midfielder’s continued popularity within football, especially within the French national team.
France fans make their feelings clear at Euro 2024 (Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
There was also a warm reception when he arrived at the Allianz Arena on Sunday afternoon to watch Juventus in the 1-1 draw with Cagliari. He posted a photo on Instagram of an embrace with his former teammate Giorgio Chiellini and thanked the 40-year-old for his support.
Pogba has the type of personality that will always inspire affection and goodwill. At his best, his infectious, enthusiastic nature was part of what made him such a compelling player.
He will hope that he can become one again after Friday’s ruling. There are still so many things that need to be resolved; If there is no way back at Juventus, where does his future lie? But there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.
(Top photo: Andrea Staccioli/Insidefoto/LightRocket via Getty Images))
