A massive blow for Paul Pogba: the French midfielder from Juventus Turin, who tested positive for testosterone in August 2023, was suspended four years for doping on Thursday, a heavy sanction which seriously compromises the rest of his career.
Will the 2018 world champion ever return to a professional football field? The question arises after the sentence pronounced by the Italian anti-doping court, faithful to the requisitions of the prosecution, in application of the maximum penalty provided for by the World Anti-Doping Code.
“We received notification from the court this morning,” a source within Juventus told AFP, saying they “take note” of the court’s decision. Contacted by AFP, the Italian anti-doping court has not yet taken action.
Pogba subsequently announced his intention to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, affirming on Instagram that he had “never knowingly or deliberately taken supplements that would violate anti-doping regulations. »
But at almost 31 years old – he will be on March 15 – it is not certain that the player, still under contract with Juventus Turin until June 2026 and who has been going through a very complicated period for several months, punctuated by injuries and extra-sporting affairs, can recover from such a setback.
Provisionally suspended since September 11, 2023 following a positive test last August after a match between Udinese and Juve in the Italian Championship, in which he did not participate, the French international (91 caps, 11 goals) had requested a second opinion which confirmed less than a month later the presence of testosterone metabolites.
To explain this positive anti-doping test, those around “La Pioche” had indicated that the testosterone metabolites would come from a food supplement prescribed by a doctor that the player consulted in the United States. Testosterone, the hormone of fertility and male sexuality, promotes muscle development.
Several consequences
This suspension looks like an endless nightmare for Pogba, who can no longer train with Juventus since the announcement of his positive test and has seen his salary, estimated at 8 million euros per year, blocked by the club where he returned in July 2022 after six seasons at Manchester United.
Above all, it risks being fatal to one of the best French players of the last ten years, pillar of the Blues and true talisman of Didier Deschamps. A great architect of the world title won in Russia in 2018, the native of Lagny-sur-Marne was one of the great stars of world football before seeing his popularity decline after a litany of misfortunes on and off the stadiums.
Last season, Pogba only made ten appearances for Juve, mainly due to an injury to the meniscus in his right knee. Forced to undergo the operation, he had to, with death in his soul, withdraw from the 2022 World Cup with the French team, whose jersey he has not worn since March 29, 2022.
“Football is losing an extraordinary player,” lamented Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri.
But it was far from the pitch that the player of Guinean origin experienced the worst. He was kidnapped in March 2022 for three hours by three childhood friends and two old acquaintances from the neighborhood where the Pogba grew up in Roissy-en-Brie, near Paris, who wanted to extract 13 million euros from him by involving two hooded men armed with rifles.
One of his brothers is notably involved in this case of attempted extortion by an organized gang, while his mother, his wife and even his agent have been the target of threats.
In mid-September, in Paris, Pogba was confronted for five hours by five of his relatives who were indicted, suspected of having played a role in his kidnapping.