What if Paul Pogba was still a professional soccer player after all? According to information from daily mail what could be confirmed the world According to a source close to the 31-year-old Frenchman, the question really arises, because the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided, on Friday, October 4, to reduce the doping suspension from four years to eighteen months.
Testing positive for testosterone on the sidelines of an Italian championship match on August 20, 2023 and then provisionally suspended on September 11, Pogba was officially sanctioned in February 2024 by the Italian national anti-doping organization. His club since 2022, Juventus Turin, had left him aside and was considering terminating his contract, which runs until June 2026, in case his appeal to the CAS was rejected.
The court based in Switzerland was therefore lenient with the Frenchman, who always denied having intentionally taken a doping product. The player will be able to return to competition in March, if his employer allows it. This possibility seemed very unlikely when the sanction was pronounced. His coach at the time, Massimiliano Allegri, stated in October 2023: “Football loses an extraordinary player, different from all the others. »
“I still feel like a footballer”
Despite this long suspension, which had “broken heart”As he wrote in February on his Instagram account, Pogba never lost sight of his priority objective: returning to the field as soon as possible. “If you haven’t seen an interview in which I say I’m retiring, it’s because that’s not the case, because I still feel like a footballer.”declared, in July, in an interview with sky sports.
“I want to fight against this injustice. (…). I have an incredible desire to return, I feel like a child who wants to be a professional. “I’m training, I’m doing everything possible to get back on the field.”He also explained.
Pogba, who has not set foot in the Juventus training center for a long time, spoke physically in his corner, but he also traveled a lot, sharing his day-to-day life on social media. In particular, he was invited by the French Football Federation to support the French team in the round of 16 of the Euro Cup, against Belgium (1-0), in Düsseldorf.
When visiting the French fans present in the “blue house” installed in Düsseldorf, the 31-year-old midfielder was also able to verify that his popularity rating had not been affected by his suspension for doping.
Before a possible return to the field in March 2025, Pogba will undertake rehabilitation work. “Will he return to his best level? He has the capacity and the mentality for it. But it won’t happen overnight.”warned Didier Deschamps on November 9, 2023. The blues coach has just lost a key element of the French team: Antoine Griezmann, who announced his international retirement at the beginning of the week. Therefore, perhaps he will regain one in the coming months, if Pogba can regain the level that allowed him to help France win the 2018 World Cup.
