Paul Pogba faces a four-year ban following his positive testosterone test. But the Juventus player’s defense could well allow him to return to the field much more quickly.
On August 20, Paul Pogba saw his career suffer another setback. Plagued by multiple physical problems and other extra-sporting problems for several years, the 2018 world champion tested positive for testosterone. Sidelined by his club Juventus, “La Pioche” requested a second opinion which also proved positive. From now on, it is the National Anti-Doping Tribunal which will decide what happens next for Paul Pogba. But while the prosecution requested a four-year suspension against him, the player could return much faster.
This is what Melisande Gomez recalled Thursday evening on the set of the channel The Team. The journalist thus mentioned Paul Pogba’s line of defense. “ From the moment he tested positive, he had two choices. (…) Either to make an agreement with the courts, but therefore to recognize guilt somewhere, and therefore to agree on a suspension which would have been less than the four years, or even the two years in question. But you cannot appeal this sanction.. »
Sanction reduced to a few months?
And for the Italian football specialist, if Paul Pogba and his representatives chose not to discuss with the courts, it is because they might have an idea in mind. “ If he refused to come to an agreement with justice, or in any case if his entourage and his advisers chose to go to trial, it is undoubtedly because they have a line of defense to which they believe. And indeed there is case law according to which players can ultimately receive six months, nine months, twelve months.“
The possibility of seeing the former Manchester United player play again at the highest level without waiting four years would therefore not be just an illusion. And Melisande Gomez concludes. “ He will plead non-intentionality, which already reduces the sentence to two years if his arguments are accepted. He can also argue that he did not do it during a period of competition, and that therefore, it was not within the framework of his sporting practice. And therefore even less done on purpose. And there, the sanction could be reduced to a few months. » A glimmer of hope to which Paul Pogba is now clinging.
