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“Was A Great Player But…”: Juventus Coach Thiago Motta Breaks Silence After Paul Pogba Ban Reduction

admin — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 16:43:57 +0000

Thiago Motta refused on Saturday to say whether Paul Pogba had a future at Juventus after the France midfielder’s four-year doping ban was slashed to 18 months. Pogba, a World Cup winner with Les Bleus in 2018, will be able to return to competitive football from March 11 next year following Friday’s ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Italian media report that Juve might still seek to terminate Pogba’s contract, which runs until the end of June 2026 and is reportedly worth up to 10 million euros ($10.97 million) a season.

“The club will assess the situation and make a decision if necessary. Paul was a great player but he hasn’t played for a long time,” coach Motta told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Serie A fixture with Cagliari.

“All I’m thinking about is our match tomorrow, nothing else really matters as far as I’m concerned.”

Juventus refused to comment on Pogba, who tested positive for testosterone following the Turin club’s opening Serie A fixture of last season, a 3-0 win at Udinese in August 2023.

He was provisionally suspended the following month and then banned for four years by the Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal in February, a sanction which put the 31-year-old’s career at risk.

Pogba’s representatives said the testosterone came from a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the United States.

Pogba collected four Serie A titles in his first stint at Juventus between 2012 and 2016 but had a string of problems on and off the pitch after his 2022 return from Manchester United.

During the 2022-23 season, Pogba made just 10 appearances for the club, mainly due to a knee injury that also ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar, where France lost out to Argentina in the final in December 2022.

He was also the victim of a case of organised extortion, for which six men, including his brother Mathias, were last month ordered to stand trial.

Since Pogba last played for his club at Empoli in early September last year, Juve have switched manager from Massimiliano Allegri to Motta and brought in a host of new players as part of a rebuild.

Juve, who finished third last term without Pogba, splashed out over 120 million euros on midfielders Teun Koopmeiners, Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram in a busy summer on the transfer market.

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Paul Pogba’s Drug Ban Cut To 18 Months From 4 Years: International Sports Court

admin — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 18:30:33 +0000

Paul Pogba’s four-year ban for doping has been reduced to 18 months, a spokesperson from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Friday.

“I can confirm the decision: an 18-month suspension with effect from 11 September 2023. The reasons for the decision will follow later,” the CAS spokesperson told AFP. Pogba, 31, tested positive for testosterone in August 2023.

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Juventus Midfielder Paul Pogba Provisionally Suspended For Doping

admin — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 04:14:55 +0000

Juventus and France midfielder Paul Pogba has been provisionally suspended after a doping control detected elevated levels of testosterone, Italian anti-doping authorities (Nado) told AFP on Monday. After a nightmare season between injuries and a blackmail affair, the 30-year-old’s dreams of bouncing back were shattered by the alleged doping offence after Juventus’s 3-0 win at Udinese on August 20, during which he was an unused substitute.

On Monday, the 2018 world champion had told Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera of his “desire to play” after a “difficult year” which could have “destroyed” him.

Instead he received a new blow.

Nado said Pogba had violated anti-doping rules when they found the prohibited substance “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites”.

Juventus said in a statement that Pogba had “received a precautionary suspension”.

“The club reserves the right to consider the next procedural steps,” the statement added.

The test concerns the ‘A’ sample, and if the ‘B’ sample also tests positive for testosterone Pogba could face a four-year ban.

In a message sent to AFP, Pogba’s agent Rafaela Pimenta said she was “awaiting the second sample and cannot have an opinion before the results”.

“What is certain is that Paul Pogba never wanted to break a rule,” she added.

‘Difficult year’

Pogba rejoined Juventus in July 2022 from Manchester United.

From 2012 to 2016 he had helped Juve win four Serie A titles and two Italian Cups, and reach the Champions League final in 2015.

Pogba had been a star player in France’s 2018 World Cup triumph but his 2022-2023 season was blighted by injury and a multi-million euro blackmail plot involving childhood friends and one of his brothers.

He played just ten games for Juventus that season and missed the 2022 World Cup with France.

Last season he played six Serie A games but had been slated for a return to action against Lazio at the weekend and said in the interview with Al Jazeera he was raring to go.

“I’ve had a difficult year so I’ve this anger and this wish to play football,” Pogba told Al Jazeera.

“The only people that can hurt you are the people close to you. Enemies you know where they are, but friends, family, that you think they’re happy for you, they can destroy you,” he said.

“You have to be careful, money change people, can break up a family,” he said of the multimillion euros extortion efforts by former friends and his own brother Mattias.

Pogba said that at times he had been deeply demotivated by the matter.

“I was just by myself thinking I don’t want to have money anymore, I don’t want to play anymore, I just want to be with normal people, so they will love me for me, not for the fame, not for the money,” he said.

After this latest setback Pogba now faces an anxious wait for the result of his ‘B’ test.

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