the challenges facing Paul Pogba, who will be able to return to competition in March 2025

The French international saw his suspension for doping reduced on appeal from four years to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday.

His return to the field will happen sooner than expected. Paul Pogba, suspended for doping since September 2023, saw his four-year sanction reduced to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Friday October 4. He had been tested positive for testosterone but always claimed not to have “never taken knowingly or deliberately” of doping products. To explain this positive doping test, those around him had put forward the theory of accidental contamination via a food supplement prescribed by a doctor consulted in the United States.

Finally authorized to resume competition in March 2025, he is still under contract with his club Juventus Turin but several challenges await him to reconnect with the thread of his career. His reaction, on his social networks, to this reduction in sentence seems, in any case, to place him on the path to a return.

Get back into physical condition

The last match played by Paul Pogba dates back to September 3, 2023, against Empoli, before his suspension was pronounced. From, “I’m training, I’m doing everything I can to get back on the field”he told Sky Sports in July. On his social networks, the 2018 world champion sometimes shows himself juggling.

However, his body will have to get used to a more sustained pace, especially since it has been weakened by numerous injuries in recent years. Since returning to Juventus in the summer of 2022, the midfielder has only played 10 games in the 2022-2023 season and missed 53 due to injuries, and he only played two games before his suspension in 2023-2024. His last full season dates back to 2020-2021, with Manchester United, during which he played 42 matches for club and 15 for the French team.

Reestablishing your place in the Juventus midfield

Even if he is under contract until 2026 and will be allowed to play again in March 2025, what will Thiago Motta, the new coach of Juventus Turin, decide? Without him, the Old Lady is currently second in Serie A and has won its first two Champions League matches. In midfield, Manuel Locatelli, Weston McKennie and Teun Koopmeiners seem well established, and Paul Pogba regretted, at the microphone of Sky Sports, the “silence” about him from his new coach. And what about the French team if it were to return to a good level? He has never announced his international retirement, and could still claim it at 32. His last match in Blue dates back to March 29, 2022, in a friendly against South Africa.

Make this matter forget

If his suspension is reduced to 18 months, instead of four years, Paul Pogba nevertheless retains a task in his career with this positive doping test. He will have to try to make the public forget her. The Juventus player will also be in the spotlight again during the upcoming trial, this time as a victim, of six men, including his brother Mathias, accused of having kidnapped him to extort him, in 2022.