Paul Pogba's career could be done after 4-year doping ban

Juventus midfielder and French National team player Paul Pogba’s future career remains uncertain after Italy’s national anti-doping prosecutors requested a four-year ban from soccer after testing positive for testosterone in September.

Pogba, who was part of France’s 2018 World Cup-winning squad, has had a career with injuries and other variables that have caused him to miss playing time. He sat out the whole 2022 World Cup due to a knee injury — he initially refused to have surgery before going under the knife — and hasn’t played a game for Juventus since being provisionally suspended three months ago when the news broke about the positive test.

Doping is a criminal offense in Italy in any capacity. A spokesperson from the club told AFP, “I can confirm that we received this morning this notification from the anti-doping agency with four years (suspension) requested.”

Pogba’s representatives said that the testosterone found in his system came from a food supplement that a doctor in the United States prescribed for him. If he can prove he is not at fault, the ban could be shortened from four years to two, or even a few months if he proves it wasn’t taken to improve his performance. A ban from the sport could spell the end of the career of a promising player who never had the opportunity to live up to the hype.

Not only were there many injuries in the 30-year-old’s career, but contract disputes and blackmail attempts. In his last three seasons with Manchester United, he was out eight separate times due to injury. Torn meniscus, calf issues, and a hamstring injury kept him out for periods of over a month. His brother attempted to expose the “truth” about Pogba to the public and accused him of “ hiring a witch doctor to place a spell” on teammate Kylian Mbappe. Pogba claims he considered retiring due to the alleged plot.

He was offered two contracts by Manchester in 2022 to stay with the team that would pay him more than the £290,000 per week that he was already earning, but he felt as though they were offering nothing.

“Humanely, I’m sorry for Paul,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said in October, via ESPN.