The decline of Paul Pogba

World Cup winner Paul Pogba is now embroiled in an ugly doping case and faces provisional suspension.

Five years ago, Paul Pogba was standing tall, on top of the world, dabbing with the World Cup trophy after culminating a spectacular tournament in Russia. 10 years ago, he was one of the biggest sensations of modern football - a do-it-all midfielder that every club aspired to possess. Touted as a future Ballon d’Or winner, Pogba now stands at the brink of a virtual career suicide.

On Monday, the 30-year-old tested positive for excess non-endogenous testosterone metabolites.

The midfielder has admitted to his club, Juventus, that he did take nutritional supplements without the knowledge that they contained testosterone which led to his positive drug test. He has apparently recognised his mistake and regrets the fact that he did not inform his club about purchasing the product and not asking for permission from club doctors to take it.

Juventus have taken the decision to temporarily suspend him for his actions and have stopped paying Pogba his €8 million-per-year ($8.6m) salary. According to reports, he has also been intimated that his contract, which runs until 2026, will be terminated if the doping violations are upheld.

The result of the B sample is now awaited and it should arrive before the end of the week.

If that returns a positive result as well, Pogba faces the risk of a four-year suspension from football. Combined with his underwhelming form, as well as extensive struggles with injuries in recent years, it could effectively be the death of his career.

It was just over seven years ago when Manchester United broke the bank and with it, the world record transfer fee, to re-acquire Pogba from Juventus for a sensational sum of €105 million. The French midfielder was 23 years old then, and had won four Serie A titles in a row along with being crowned the Best Young Player at the FIFA World Cup in 2014 in Brazil.

He was the jewel in the Juventus midfield for both Antonio Conte and Max Allegri and both the Italian managers knew how to get the best out of him on the left side of the pitch. They didn’t put the shackles of defensive duties on him and also allowed him the license to venture forward every now and then.

Pogba, who had come up through the youth academy at Manchester United before finding his feet in Turin, was deemed the ‘prodigal son’ who had returned home.

Since then, however, and with the very notable exception of winning the World Cup in 2018, virtually nothing has gone right for Pogba in his professional career. Ever since his move to United, he has largely looked out of place. His role at Old Trafford was hardly well-defined and given the price tag associated with him, he was expected to do it all - defend, make tackles, keep the ball, switch possession, combine with forwards, get in the box, and score goals.

When being used deep, it felt like managers didn’t unleash his creative forces higher up the pitch and when used as an advanced midfielder, Pogba’s somewhat technical shortcomings to play in the box and the final third got exploited.

There were problems off the pitch as well. Flashy, possessing a certain swagger, Pogba’s multitude of hairstyles and jewellery and sports cars didn’t exactly attain positive press and he was an easy target in the media for managers to point their fingers at. The situation nearly got out of hand during the Jose Mourinho era at Old Trafford where the manager and the player butted heads quite frequently.

The injuries didn’t help his cause either. He suffered from a persistent ankle issue in 2019-20, hamstring problems in 2021 and, after his return to Juventus in 2022, knee surgery and a series of muscular problems.

In fact, since the summer of 2019, Pogba has only appeared in 51 league matches.

The 30-year-old has also gone through a series of trials and tribulations off the pitch. In March last year, he was allegedly kidnapped near Paris by masked men bearing M16 assault rifles. They demanded €13m (£11m) in protection money – €1m for each year of his career – and Pogba seemingly tried to pay, only to be blocked by his bank.

There have also been rifts with his own family, prompting Pogba to say, “ Sometimes, I don’t want to have money any more. I just don’t want to play any more. I just want to be with normal people, so they will love me for me – not for the fame, not for the money. Sometimes it’s tough.”

“Football is very beautiful, but it’s cruel,” Pogba said. “People can forget you. You can do something great – the next day, you’re nobody.”