Cyrille de la Morinerie / Photo credit: GIUSEPPE MAFFIA / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP
Paul Pogba, former leader of the French football team, world champion with the Blues in 2018, tested positive for testosterone. The Juventus Turin midfielder is provisionally suspended and faces a permanent suspension of four years. One more disappointment for a player who has been accumulating them for several years.
Will we one day see Paul Pogba at the highest level on a football field? Nothing is less certain the day after the provisional suspension of the 2018 world champion, after a positive doping test for testosterone. A new stage in the midfield’s descent into hell.
Because since the global coronation obtained in Russia, five years ago, the former leader of the Blues has multiplied the disappointments. With, first of all, a host of physical problems: ankle injury, Covid, and above all a knee operation which forced him to withdraw from the 2022 World Cup.
Extra-sporting setbacks
At the same time, the midfielder left Manchester United through the back door to return to Juventus Turin where he played very little, due to the persistence of his injuries. Added to this are extra-sporting setbacks and in particular this attempted extortion by an organized gang of which he is the victim and which resulted in his brother Matthias and four other suspects being indicted and placed in pre-trial detention.
And now, it’s a positive test for testosterone which has thrown yet another stick in Paul Pogba’s wheel. This hormone, explains Dr. Jean-Pierre Fraioli, sports doctor, is used to improve physical fitness. “It is often used by athletes who do bodybuilding to increase muscle mass and performance. It is used much less than in the past, now, there are so many other products to do up. It’s enough “surprising that he took testosterone,” the doctor concluded. Céline Géraud, former professional judoka, also believes that taking this substance is “rare” in the world of football, and that it is found more in “strength sports”.
Paul Pogba risks up to four years of suspension, synonymous for this player, aged 30, with a very probable end of his career.