Italian anti-doping officials (Nado) announced AFP on Monday that Juventus and France midfielder Paul Pogba has been provisionally suspended after a doping control showed elevated levels of testosterone. Pogba is a member of both France and Juventus.
After a season marred by injuries and an incident involving blackmail, the 30-year-old’s hopes of making a comeback were dashed when he was accused of committing a doping offense following Juventus’ victory over Udinese by a score of 3-0 on August 20. During that match, he was a substitute but did not play.
After a “difficult year” that could have “destroyed” him, the 2018 world champion expressed his “desire to play” in an interview that aired on Monday on the Qatari broadcasting network Al Jazeera.
Instead, he was struck with another strike.
According to Nado, Pogba broke anti-doping guidelines after they discovered the banned substance “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites” in his system.
Pogba was claimed to have “received a precautionary suspension” in a statement released by Juventus.
“The club reserves the right to consider the next procedural steps,” the statement continued to say after that.
The test is being done on the ‘A’ sample, and if the ‘B’ sample also comes up positive for testosterone, Pogba may be suspended for a total of four years.
Pogba’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, stated in a message that she was “awaiting the second sample and cannot have an opinion before the results” in reference to the upcoming test results.
She continued by saying, “One thing that is certain is that Paul Pogba never wanted to break a rule.””Tough calendar year”
Pogba moved back to Juventus in July 2022 after spending time playing for Manchester United.
From 2012 to 2016, he was a big part of Juventus’ run of success that saw them win four Serie A titles, two Italian Cups, and advance all the way to the final of the Champions League in 2015.
Pogba had been a star player for France in their victory at the 2018 World Cup, but his 2022-2023 season was marred by injuries as well as a blackmail plan involving boyhood acquaintances and one of his siblings that involved many millions of euros.
During that season, he appeared in just eleven games for Juventus and did not travel with France to the 2022 World Cup.
In the previous season, he participated in a total of six Serie A games; nevertheless, he was scheduled to make his comeback against Lazio this past weekend and stated in an interview with Al Jazeera that he was eager to go back into action.
“I’ve had a difficult year, so I’ve got this anger and this wish to play football,” Pogba said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“Those who are closest to you are the only ones who have the power to cause you harm. Friends and family members, even if you believe they are glad for you, have the potential to bring about your downfall, despite the fact that you are aware of your enemies’ locations.
“You have to be careful, money change people, and it can break up a family,” he remarked in reference to the attempts by former friends and even his own brother Mattias to extort several millions of euros from him.
Pogba stated that the situation had left him feeling extremely unmotivated on numerous occasions.
He said, “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.” “I was just by myself thinking I don’t want to have money anymore, I don’t want to play anymore.”
Following this most recent setback, Pogba will now have to wait with bated breath for the results of his ‘B’ test.