Paul Pogba banned from football for four years over doping offence
His career is now in serious doubt.
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has been handed a four-year ban from football over a failed drugs test.
The 30-year-old, a World Cup winner with France, failed doping test due to elevated levels of testosterone in August last year while playing for current club Juventus.
He was provisionally suspended in September. Counter analysis of a B sample found the same results produced by his initial doping test in August, leaving his fate in the hands of Italy’s anti-doping prosecutor’s office.
A four-year ban from all football has now been confirmed by Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal (NADO).
It extends a remarkable fall from grace for Pogba, once regarded as one of the best midfielders in European football.
He initially joined United as a 16-year-old, progressing through the club’s youth academy before making his senior debut two years later.
Despite huge early promise, he left the club in 2012, turning down a new contract to sign for Juventus.
Sir Alex Ferguson, United manager at the time, accused the player and his agent Mino Raiola of ‘disrespecting’ United, with Pogba almost immediately becoming a first-team star in Turin.
After four Serie A title successes, he returned to United in 2016 for £90million, then a world record fee and one that still stands as United’s largest ever transfer outlay.
Signed with hope of lifting United back to the summit of English and European football, Pogba won just three major trophies during his second spell at Old Trafford.
While producing moments of outstanding skill, including a goal in the 2017 Europa League final, he struggled for consistency back in Manchester where he failed to replicate his superb form for France. He was released at the end of his contract in the summer of 2022.
After returning to Juventus, Pogba suffered a series of injuries that ensured he managed just 161 minutes of football in his first season back in Italy.
Pogba’s suspension is subject to a possible appeal. He remains under contract at Juventus until 2026.
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