After a nightmare season between injuries and extra-sporting affairs, Paul Pogba’s dreams of a rebound were shattered by a suspicion of testosterone doping for which the Italian Anti-Doping Agency (Nado) provisionally suspended him on Monday. The day the 2018 world champion made his media comeback with an energetic interview on Al Jazeera where he spoke of his “rage” and his “desire to play”, he took another blow to the head. The “Pioche” spoke of his “difficult year”, which could have “destroyed” him. With his multiple injuries, the attempted extortion by an organized gang targeting him, and in which one of his brothers, Mathias, is notably involved, he only played ten ends of a match last season and he missed the World Cup. -2022.
But he risks missing much more if he has taken testosterone. “The National Anti-Doping Tribunal informs that in accordance with the recommendation of the National Anti-Doping Prosecutor, it has pronounced the provisional suspension of Paul Labile Pogba,” Nado said in its press release to AFP. The sanction was pronounced for “violation of articles 2.1 and 2.2 for the presence of the following prohibited substances: testosterone metabolites”, she added.
He faces four years of suspension
Juventus Turin, his club, specifies in a press release that the anti-doping control dates back to August 20 after the match between Udine and Juventus, counting for the first day of the Italian Championship, during which Pogba did not enter at stake. If the second opinion of his B sample confirms the presence of testosterone metabolites, he is liable to a four-year suspension. Contacted by AFP, Paul Pogba’s advisors did not react Monday evening. Juve only wrote that it “reserves the possibility of evaluating the next stages of the procedure”, suggesting that it was awaiting the outcome, and therefore the second opinion.
Pogba, 30, made his return to the field on August 27 in competition during his team’s draw at home against Bologna (1-1) in the Italian Championship. His previous match dates back to May 14. He entered the game the following weekend during the match against Empoli, counting for the 3rd day, but finished the match weakened due to pain in his right thigh. The examinations proved reassuring. In the show Generation Sport on the Qatari channel, Pogba promised to come back “stronger” after the ordeals he went through, the series of injuries and the alleged blackmail (the investigation is still ongoing).
He promised to come back “stronger”
“Money changes people, money can break up a family, start war,” he said. “The only people who can hurt you are your loved ones,” he said. “The enemies, you know where they are, but the friends, the family, those who you think are happy for you, they can destroy you, they can destroy you (he says it twice, Editor’s note)”. At the height of this crisis, “there were times when I found myself alone and I said to myself: ‘I don’t want to have money anymore, I don’t want to play anymore, I just want to be with normal people, who ‘Love for who I am, not for fame or money’,” Pogba continued.
He promised in this interview that it “was only going to make (him) stronger”, and gave an appointment to those who do not believe that he can return to his best level. “Football is cruel, people can forget you the next day,” he said. “They are waiting for you on the corner: ‘He is finished, his career is over’. Many think that I am finished, that I am dead, that Pogba no longer exists, that I am no longer one of the best, that I am no longer not even a good player anymore, that I’m always injured…” But “I’m not weak, you can say bad things about me, I’m never going to give up, I’m going to work even more, give even more, and I’ll have to show them, again…” he concluded. But Pogba may not get the chance if he is convicted of doping.