It has now been more than a year since Paul Pogba played football. Testing positive in an anti-doping test in August 2023, the French midfielder was initially sentenced to four years of suspension. A sentence revised downwards by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the announcement on Friday of a reduction of the sentence to eighteen months. Enough to offer the prospect of a return next March for the Juventus player. But the Turin club no longer really counts on him. A new problem that will have to be resolved.
According to an indiscretion of The Teamthe news of the reduced suspension of “the Pickaxe” did not make Juventus smile at all. It would even be quite the opposite. A lack of enthusiasm which would be linked to two factors: the difficulty of reintegrating the Frenchman into a brand new project put in place since this summer with the arrival of Thiago Motta on the bench, but also the desire of management to base themselves now on young people rather than highly paid stars. A double problem with Pogba who does not correspond to either criterion.
Impossible story?
If he had arrived free in Turin after the end of his contract with Manchester United, the 2018 world champion had nonetheless negotiated a staggering salary of 11 million euros gross per season. His suspension had greatly affected the finances of the
Old Ladysince he only received 48,000 euros, the legal minimum in such cases. Suffice to say that the Turin accountants will have to sweat a few months in the next few months to review their annual plan.
But for Paul Pogba, the main problem should be sporting. With a midfielder already very well supplied, will Thiago Motta really count on him and will he do what is necessary to try to integrate him into a freshly overhauled squad which has been performing rather well since the start? in season? Nothing is less certain. While waiting for the announcement of this reduction in sentence to be formalized for good by the CAS, some, like Patrice Evra, have already said that it seemed impossible to see Paul Pogba continue with Juventus. To be continued.
