Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba wasreportedly banned four years from football after failing a drugs test in August 2023.
Italian newspaper, La Repubblica made this known.
The 30-year-old tested positive for testosterone after Juventus’s first game of the season against Udinese, and face strict sanction by an anti-doping prosecutor’s office in Italy on Thursday.
as reported by La Repubblica.
Pogba’s lawyers had rejected a plea deal and hoped to get their client a lighter sentence after claiming that he had accidentally ingested the substance that caused the positive test.
The prosecution, however, did not believe Pogba’s defence, and he has now been handed him a ban that could potentially end his career.
Pogba will turn 31 next month, meaning he would not be able to return to the pitch until he is almost 35.
Pogba’s suspension completes a dramatic fall from grace for a player who was once the most expensive footballer in the world.
The Frenchman returned to Old Trafford in 2016 after coming through the club’s academy before thriving at Juventus, with United paying the Italian giants £89m for his services.
Pogba won the World Cup with France two years later, scoring in the final against Croatia, but struggled to hit the same heights at United.
He left the 13-time Premier League champions on a free transfer for the second time in 2022 to go back to Juventus as he aimed to resurrect his career.
But his first year back in Turin proved disastrous as he missed the majority of the campaign due to injury.
He was named on the bench for their opening match of the 2023-24 season, but was an unused substitute in their 3-0 win at Udinese.
Following that match, he returned a test that has led to him receiving a four-year ban.
