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One of the most promising midfielders of the 2010s, Paul Pogba, has reached rock bottom. The winner of the World Cup in Russia finally failed the doping test: the B sample of the football player of Turin Juventus and the French national team on Thursday gave a positive result for the presence of a prohibited drug. According to the prestigious publication La Gazzetta dello Sport, testosterone was found in the sample of the 30-year-old athlete.
Paul Pogba
- Four-time Italian champion;
- Multiple winner of the Italian Cup and Super Cup;
- Multiple winner of the Italian Cup and Super Cup;
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- Winner of the English League Cup (2016/17);
- Winner of the Europa League (2016/17);
- Winner of the Europa League (2016/17);
- World Champion (2018);
- Winner of the League of Nations (2020/21);
- Finalist of Euro 2016.
Note that Pogba was temporarily suspended from football in September when his doping test failure first became known. Testosterone metabolites were found in a sample taken on August 20 after the match of the 1st round of Serie A with Udinese.
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"We are waiting for additional analysis. Until then we cannot give any comments. But it’s obvious that Paul never wanted to violate anti-doping rules,” Pogba’s agent Rafaela Pimenta commented on the scandal in a conversation with journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.
Pogba himself has not yet given any official comments on the situation. It is only known that the football player justified the incident with a “contaminated” additive purchased in the USA.
Let's face it: Pogba has always had a reputation as a problematic footballer. His rapid decline only confirms the obvious. After leaving Manchester United for the second time, where brief outbursts were time after time followed by gloomy downtime, the Frenchman never found himself. In addition, Pogba was plagued by injuries, which meant that the player who was once among the best central midfielders in the world struggled to make 10 appearances for Juve last season.
With terrible form and a problem knee, the Frenchman has crossed the 30-year-old mark. He lost a lot in value, which by September stood at 15 million euros — even at 20, Pogba was more expensive. And scandals have been sticking to the player for a long time. Just look at the wild story with your brother.
However, the new scandal with testosterone will cause more resonance than family squabbles. After all, Paul faces disqualification for up to four years. True, there is hope that it will be reduced later.
In 2001, the famous Edgar Davids served a disqualification for using nandrolone. His sentence was “cut off” from eight to four months.
It is also interesting how Juventus will behave in this situation. It was previously reported that the club would terminate the contract with Pogba if he was officially found guilty. And the people of Turin can understand: hardly anyone will “waste” money on a deteriorating football player with a salary of seven million euros a year until the end of the 2024/25 season. Termination would be an appropriate solution for a club going through difficult times.